Brothers in Arms
by A Scary Man
Summary: COMPLETE - The year is 2019; the Brotherhood have initiated a plan to eradicate the human race, and it's up to the X-Men to stop them. Meanwhile a young brother and sister are coming of age as mutants...
1. Prologue part I

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BROTHERS IN ARMS

Prologue part I:

The year was 2019. The President of the United States was enjoying his third year in office, and any minute now he was due to arrive in New York, to greet the public and deliver a speech on environmental issues. His chief security advisor, Kenneth O'Hara, now stood a little nervously as he waited for the President's helicopter to arrive. He told himself that there was no real reason to worry. Every possible security precaution had been taken to ensure the President's safety: every person in the crowd had been searched for weapons; every access to the street was being carefully watched by security personnel; the roofs were manned by spotters and snipers; all members of international groups who had a grudge against the US, anyone who might wish to harm the President, were confirmed as being nowhere near this event.

Even so, O'Hara still felt nervous. Relations between humans and the mutants were not good, and his main concern was that some mutant would make an attempt on the President's life, to make some kind of point. The trouble was, normal security procedures did not apply when dealing with mutants. The President's continued opposition to mutant registration meant that it was impossible to keep track of America's mutant population, and meant that any number of mutants could be standing anonymously in the crowd at this moment, possessing gifts that could only be guessed at.

O'Hara bit his lip; he had more than once urged the President to cancel or at least reduce the number of his public appearances, but the man could not be persuaded, and had insisted that he had to show he trusted the mutants. Determined as he was to bring about a peaceful solution to the mutant issue, the President refused to accept the common prejudice that mutants were abominations who had to be feared. O'Hara could still remember from the speech the President had given while meeting with the British Prime Minister and the Russian Premier, "…we cannot simply label mutants with a tag of mistrust. Though some have been witnessed as violent and hostile, many mutants will be peaceful and benevolent. In that sense they are no different from humanity – certainly none of us are perfect – and I feel it is essential that the peaceful, right-thinking members of both humanity and mutantkind are brought together…"

O'Hara shrugged to himself. He wasn't sure what to make of mutants. He agreed with the President that not all of them could be tarred with same brush. There _were_ well-documented cases of mutants risking their lives and using their powers to save humans from death, but these tended to be forgotten when another mutant was witnessed using their powers for crime, or worse, murder. They were a security hazard, and one that had to be dealt with. That was his job.

The rotor blades of a helicopter could now be heard, and the buzz of the crowd increased in volume as the President's helicopter came into view. O'Hara knew the helicopter had been scanned and checked inside-out a dozen times for any sabotage devices, and he was confident that nothing untoward would happen while the President was in the air. He was right, and he unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief as the chopper touched down safely. A cheer went up from the crowd as the President stepped out, giving them a smile and a wave.

O'Hara scanned the crowd, his trained eye moving from face to face, trying to spot anything out of place or anybody who looked suspicious. He knew his staff would be moving amongst the people, doing the same thing, conducting a search of anyone who looked as if they might be carrying a weapon. The President was walking by the side of the road now, shaking hands with the people at the front of the pack, and O'Hara fell into step beside him.

"Good afternoon, Mr President," he said.

"Afternoon, Ken," the President responded. "Nothing's gone wrong, I trust?"

"Not so far, sir. You are wearing the kevlar vest?"

"On your insistence, yes. I'm not so sure it's necessary."

O'Hara said nothing. Despite being a brilliant politician and an inspiring leader, the President's one real weakness, if you could call it that, was that he always expected the best of people. He trusted too much in a person's basic goodness – strange really, for a politician – and O'Hara felt that the President didn't always fully heed the danger he put himself in by exposing himself in this way.

It was just as this thought passed through his mind, that he caught the flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned, his hand instinctively reaching towards the gun holstered under his coat. A young man had broken out of the crowd, and was heading directly towards the President.

"Stop where you are!" O'Hara yelled, training his gun on the man.

There was a flash of silver, as a throwing knife appeared from nowhere in the man's hand, and he flung it through the air towards the security chief. O'Hara screamed as the knife pierced his right hand, and he scrambled desperately to grab the gun with his left. He had no time, and could only watch in horror as the young man whipped another knife seemingly out of nowhere, and thrust it deep into the back of the President's neck.

Screams rang in the air as the crowd realised what was going on, and two or three security personnel jumped into action, heading directly for the assassin. After years of training and experience, O'Hara was a crack shot with a pistol in either hand, and he now held the gun in his left hand, aiming directly at the young man. As he fired, he knew his shots were true, yet the man raised some kind of shield to deflect them away from him, then ducked into the crowd and disappeared.

O'Hara ignored the blood and the pain from his right hand, and ran to the fallen figure of the President. As he got there, he knew it was too late to do anything. He grabbed a communicator and barked into it, "All security personnel, I want that man caught! Block off all exits! He's armed, so use caution!"

He looked angrily in the direction the man had disappeared, looking for some sign of the killer's fleeing form. Then he saw him, heading directly for the five-storey office building in front of him. O'Hara set off after the assassin, waving to his staff to follow him. The killer of the President of the United States was _not_ going to escape justice. The young man had stopped before the wall, and turned to face O'Hara. The security chief raised his weapon and fired. Again the man raised some kind of metallic shield in front of him, and the bullets bounced harmlessly to the ground. Another throwing knife appeared in his hand, and with a flick of wrist he skimmed it towards O'Hara. The security advisor dived to the ground and rolled over to avoid the knife, coming up in a crouch with his gun trained once more on the killer.

A white cloud, some sort of gas, had risen, obscuring his view. As it spread, O'Hara felt an irritating sensation in his eyes and the back of his throat. Tear gas! He backed away, waited for the gas to dissipate, knowing the killer had nowhere to go. His gun was empty; he slammed in a fresh clip. The pain in his right hand was intensifying, but that could wait. It wasn't going to kill him. He had other things to take care of first.

When the gas had cleared, the man was nowhere to be seen. For a moment O'Hara's jaw dropped and he stared in confusion as he tried to work out what had happened. Something made him look upwards, and then he saw the assassin, climbing the sheer wall of the building, almost at the top. Instinctively he aimed his gun, then he spoke into his communicator, "Attention, security personnel on roof! Unidentified assassin coming your way! Stop him in any way you can!"

He stepped backwards until he could see his security staff on top of the building, hurrying over to intercept the killer. A smile – a grim, bitter smile – crossed O'Hara's face. How the man had managed to smuggle those weapons through searches, and escape the way he had, was beyond comprehension, but he had reached the end of the road now. Even if he could overcome the security men, he'd be stuck on top of the building with nowhere to go. O'Hara hoped he was right. He had a sort of sinking feeling as he realised that everything the man had done so far should have been impossible. What was one more impossibility to a man like this?

His worst fears were confirmed as the man ascended on to the roof of the building, and faced the three security staff who had gone to stop him. The killer pulled yet another throwing knife from wherever he was hiding them, and bisected the neck of one of the security men. The remaining two aimed their guns and fired, but the young man had raised another of his remarkable metallic shields to protect himself. Another cloud of tear gas formed, and the two security men were coughing and choking, backing away as quickly as they could. The assassin meanwhile was running in the opposite direction, towards the edge of the building.

O'Hara looked up into the air as he heard the sound of another helicopter approaching. Pulling a compact pair of binoculars from inside his coat, he took a closer look at the chopper. He didn't recognise its designation, which meant it wasn't supposed to be here. He realised it had to be here to pick up the killer. There were two people on board – with the sun behind them they appeared as nothing more than silhouettes – and it was definitely heading towards the running man on top of the building. The door at the side of the helicopter was thrown open as the craft hovered over the building, and the assassin jumped to climb inside.

O'Hara swore. He knew it would be several minutes at least before he could get any anti-aircraft weaponry on the scene, which meant there was nothing he could do to stop the helicopter. Which meant the killer was going to get away. The security chief could only watch as the helicopter's door was closed from inside, and it rose again, flying off and disappearing into the horizon. He slammed his left fist into his right palm, and the sudden pain reminded him about the wound to his right hand. Tearing a strip of material from the sleeve of his coat, he wound it around his hand, stemming the flow of blood.

He couldn't understand it. He just couldn't understand it at all. How the hell had the assassin managed to get through the security checks in possession of at least four knives, two tear gas canisters, and some kind of personal shield? Even if the security staff had been careless, there was no way they would have missed all of those items. There was simply no explanation, nothing that could be said to account for what happened. O'Hara, however, knew that he was going to have to find an explanation, and find it soon. It had been his responsibility to ensure the President's safety, and he had failed utterly. The trouble was, he couldn't even begin to imagine how it could have happened. Everything had happened so fast, and the shock was still numbing his logical mind.

He walked back to where paramedics were clustered around the President's body, making fruitless attempts to resuscitate him. The knife. O'Hara knew the assassin hadn't stopped to retrieve the knife he had slid into the President's neck. Maybe it would provide some clue as to who had done this. As he knelt by the paramedics, he saw it was gone.

"I'm Ken O'Hara, chief of security," he told them, showing his identity card. "Could I have the knife? It might give us an ID for the killer."

The paramedic nearest him shook his head helplessly, "We didn't find any knife."

O'Hara frowned. He ordered his staff to conduct a search of the area, and of the crowd still milling around in terror, in case one of them had somehow made off with the weapon. The search proved futile. No trace of the knife was found. Nor was there any trace of the two knives the killer had thrown at O'Hara, or the one thrown at the security man on the roof. Nor were the shattered remnants of any tear gas canisters found. Even with all his years of experience, the security chief was at a loss to find any explanation for what had happened. It was almost as if the weapons had disappeared into thin air.


	2. Prologue part II

Prologue part II

Cyclops stopped the tape. He turned to face the other seven X-Men who sat around the table in front of him.

"OK, you've seen the footage," he said. "The President's murder took place less than two hours ago, and nobody has been able to piece together what happened. The real mystery is how the killer managed to smuggle a veritable arsenal past security. The only explanation I can find is that he was a mutant."

"Anyone we know?" asked Wolverine.

"I don't think so. He certainly doesn't resemble anyone we've encountered. It's not immediately obvious what powers he might have. All we know is that he has some way of secreting weaponry, and was seen to climb a sheer wall five stories high."

"Do you think the Brotherhood were behind this?" Storm asked. "We know that they've been planning an attack on the President."

"That seems the most likely answer," Cyclops agreed. "Their motive is obvious: the President seeks peace between mutants and humans, and the Brotherhood don't. The fact that we haven't had any trouble with them for a long time, suggests that they've been building their strength and planning something like this. Unfortunately, we know very little about the current status of the Brotherhood. We've been unable to keep track of their membership, and we've no idea where they are presently based. We don't even know who their leader currently is."

"We do know one thing," Iceman spoke up. "They started the Plague."

Some of the others flinched slightly.

"That's true," said Cyclops. "From what little we've been able to tell, they started the Plague – it's a genetically engineered virus – in an attempt to destroy humanity. As you know, it does not harm mutants in any way. It originated somewhere in South America, and within a week it has become rampant all over that continent. We can't tell how soon it will spread to North America or Europe, but there doesn't seem to be anything to stop it. Medical analysis indicates that it could take months or years to synthesise an effective cure."

"So what's our plan?" asked Wolverine impatiently.

"Our first priority is to track down the Brotherhood, and determine their involvement in this. As I said before, we've no idea where they're based, but there have been rumoured sightings of a group of mutants somewhere in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of them matches the description of Pyro. Apart from that, there's nothing to suggest it's the Brotherhood, but it's the only lead we have right now. Logan, Kurt, Ororo – I'd like you to get down there and see what you can find out."

He paused for breath, then continued, "Our second priority is to find out whether or not it _was_ a mutant who killed the President. Marie, Bobby and myself will work on that angle."

"So what about the Plague?" asked Rogue. "What will happen?"

"I can't say for sure. If nothing is done to fight it, the Plague could well wipe out human life in less than three months."

"Isn't there anything we can do about it?"

"Possibly. I'm thinking of calling on an old friend to help us."

"You mean Oculus?"

"Yes. His healing ability may be able to help combat the Plague. Shapeshifter, Shock, I'd like you two to try and get in touch with him. You know where he's currently staying?"

"Well, yeah," replied Shapeshifter. "Whether or not he'll do it is another matter."

"He would do anything to help humanity, no?" Nightcrawler said.

"That isn't what he meant," said Shock. "Oculus has a family. For their sake, he's not willing to put himself at risk. He and Gaia have both sworn never to fight again while they have children to look after."

"All the same, I'd like you to contact him and see what he says," Cyclops told them. 

Shock and Shapeshifter exchanged glances, and both of them nodded their assent.

"Leave whenever you're ready," their leader concluded. "Take one of the jets."

Two hours later, having crossed the Atlantic ocean in near-record time, the two youngest X-Men found themselves walking down a quiet Edinburgh street to the address where their former friends resided. Both of them cast their minds back over the years, remembering those times, so long ago, when they had fought alongside Oculus and Gaia. After everything that had happened in the years since, it seemed like several lifetimes ago. For the last sixteen years, Oculus had been unchallenged in his position as the world's most powerful mutant. Afraid that using his power would do more harm than good no matter what his intentions were, he had shut himself away and devoted his life to his wife and children.

Oculus was not like other mutants. He had been born a perfectly ordinary human, of a Czech father and half-Scottish, half-Russian mother, but as a new-born baby he had been subjected to an experimental and highly risky method of artificially implanting mutations in humans. Oculus had survived, but with eight different mutations. Eight separate parts of his body had been targeted for implantation.

As he had grown, he had learned to use his powers, becoming stronger and stronger as he passed out of childhood and into adulthood. More than once his life had been threatened by those who didn't want such a powerful being potentially in their way, but he had kept himself alive, and settled down with his family, with no interest in using his powers for his own selfish benefit. Now his only concern was the welfare of his daughter and son, the inheritors of his mutations.

It was Shock who eventually broke the silence.

"It's been a few years since we saw them, hasn't it?" she said. "How old will their children be now?"

"Sixteen and fourteen, I think. It's been a while," Shapeshifter agreed. "Trouble is, we've been so busy the last few years, we haven't kept in touch with them."

"I just hope they remember us."

"They will. You don't forget people when you've been as close to them as the four of us once were."

"I hope you're right. I hope Oculus is willing to help."

"I can't imagine him refusing to save lives, but still…he's been out of things for years…he may not be willing to let go of the life he has just now."

"This is their house, just here," said Shock.

She pushed open the gate that led into a small, neatly tended garden in front of an attractive single-storey house. The two of them walked down the garden path towards the front door, on which a small plaque bore the name **ROSIÇKY**.

__

It's unlocked. Let yourselves in.

Both jumped slightly as they heard the telepathic voice speak into their minds. Shock felt a little smile crossing her lips; it was a voice she hadn't heard for years, but one she knew she would never forget. 

"Seems as if he remembers us," Shapeshifter grinned, as he opened the front door, and the two of them stepped inside.

__

I'm in the front room.

Closing the door behind him, he followed Shock into the front room. The man who rose from his chair to greet them was visibly older than when they had last met; his hair had begun to grey around the temples, but it was undoubtedly Oculus. He smiled warmly, "Chris, Fliss, it's good to see you. How are you both?"

"Quite well, thank you," said Shock. "And you? How are Chloe and the kids?"

"Chloe and I are still as happy as the day we were first married. The children? Well, Annie's fine. As for Gary…"

He hesitated, then smiled, "So what can I do for you? Actually, I already know; I read your minds. But I'll do you the courtesy of listening to you tell me."

"Kind of you," said Shapeshifter. "OK, here's our problem. You no doubt know, unless you've been living in a hole for the last couple of weeks, about the two major events on the news."

"The Plague and the US President's assassination."

"Yes. We think – we _suspect_ – that the Brotherhood are involved in both. We need your help."

"To fight the Brotherhood?"

"We don't know yet. Primarily we'd like you to use your healing power to see if you can fight against the Plague. Saving the lives of those affected is our number one priority. We estimate that almost a hundred thousand people have died already, and millions more are infected. Within a week, those millions could be dead."

"No cure has yet been found," Shock said. "Your power may be the only force on Earth that can stop this virus."

Shapeshifter added, "We don't know anything about the strength or membership of the Brotherhood. If it comes down to a fight between us and them, we may need your help on that front too."

"I see," was Oculus' only response.

For a moment none of them said anything, then Shapeshifter and Shock looked at each other. She said, "So…will you help us?"

"No. I'm afraid not."

"_No_? What do you mean?"

"I think the word 'no' is self-explanatory enough."

Shock lashed out angrily, "So you're just going to sit there and watch millions of people die when you might be the only one who can save them?"

"I can't save millions of people. It would take months for me to heal all of them, by which time the virus would have spread even further."

"But it's better than doing nothing! Neil, you were an X-Man once; you have a duty to save lives!"

"I also have a duty to my family. If I get killed while fighting the Brotherhood, what's going to happen to my children?"

Shock couldn't think what to say in response to that. Shapeshifter stepped in, "Look, Neil, I know you've been out of the loop for what – sixteen years now? I know you swore you wouldn't let anything get in the way of your family. But this isn't just anything. The entire human race is at risk. We need you. They need you. You _have_ to do something."

"I'm sorry, but Annie and Gary come first. I know I may sound selfish and heartless, but they're my one and only priority. I never knew either of my own parents…I want to make sure neither of my children have to experience what I did."

"But you're the most powerful mutant in the world!" Shock said insistently. "The Brotherhood won't be able to kill _you_!"

"I'm sorry," he said again. "You don't understand how I feel. You're not parents – nor are any of the others. Nothing comes before my children."

Shock was confused and angry, and was about to bite back a response, when Shapeshifter put a hand on her arm to stop her, and said calmly, "That's exactly the reason why you have to help us. If you don't, God only knows what the Brotherhood will do to the world! You really need to think about the kind of world you want your children to live in."

That got through. Oculus blinked, bit his lip, then began nodding slowly. His eyes slowly drifted out of focus as he sat, deep in thought. 

"You're right…" he sighed. "I have to do something. You're right, I _do_ have a duty. For my children's sake, I have to do something."

"So you'll help us?" Shock asked hopefully.

It was a terrible dilemma, both of the others knew. Oculus had two vitally important duties, but couldn't uphold both of them together. The oath he had made, never to endanger himself, for his children's sake, weighed against the possibility of the death of millions. He wanted to do both, but he couldn't. Or could he? Was that slight sparkle in his eyes, that slight change in facial expression, an indication that he had a solution?

Eventually Oculus said, "All right. Providing Chloe agrees, I'll help. On one condition."


	3. Born Different

Chapter One: Born Different

"Would Gary Rosiçky please report to the Headmaster's office immediately."

I groaned as I heard my name called over the tannoy; the message I had been expecting all afternoon. I gulped down the remaining contents of my can of Coke, crushed it in one hand, and aimed it at the bin. It bounced off the rim and landed on the ground nearby. I couldn't be bothered picking it up and putting it in. I grabbed my schoolbag and began to head for the main school building. Glancing around, I saw the slim, petite figure of my older sister, Annie, as she walked over to pick up the squashed Coke can and drop it in the bin. She looked up at me with a slightly disapproving expression, doubtless fretting over the environmental effects of not putting litter in the bin properly. Big deal. I turned away.

It was hot inside the school building, away from the pleasant cool breeze outside, and my already bad mood turned increasingly more sour as I climbed the stairs to the Head's office. I yawned involuntarily and glanced at my watch. Lunch break was almost over, and with any luck my talk with the Headmaster would enable me to miss the first few minutes of my maths class. As I got to his office, I glanced inside, and saw there was already somebody in there with him: one of the science teachers. The Head looked up and saw me.

"I'm a little busy right now, Gary," he said. "Could you wait outside, please?"

I sighed impatiently, and sat down on one of the uncomfortable plastic seats outside of his office. How long was he going to take? What was the point of calling me up to his office if he wasn't ready to talk to me when I got there? I yawned and checked my watch again, then slouched down in the seat to wait. Two pretty girls, maybe a year or two younger than my own fourteen, walked past, glancing at me curiously, whispering to each other once they thought they were out of my hearing. I couldn't make out what they were saying – my telepathic sister could have told me – but I didn't really care.

The science teacher emerged from the Head's office, and said, "He'll see you now, Gary."

I pulled myself up out of the chair with an exaggerated display of effort, ignoring the annoyed look on the teacher's face, and walked into the office to face the music. I knew exactly what the Head was going to say me. It was the same every time.

"Sit down, Gary," he told me, and I slouched in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "I think you know why I've asked you here, don't you?"

"My sister's the mind-reader, not me," I responded lazily.

"That's enough, Gary. It doesn't take a mind-reader to know why I've called you here. You've been fighting again, haven't you?"

I said nothing. 

"Would you like to tell me what happened?" he asked.

I shrugged, then said, "Some bigger guys thought they'd start a fight with me."

"You've no idea what prompted them to do so?" 

"I told you, Annie's the mind-reader."

"You didn't provoke them in any way?"

"No."

"Really. I'm afraid I find that hard to believe, Gary. You see, you seem to be involved in fights quite frequently, certainly more than any other pupil in the school."

"There's nothing much I can do if people keep trying to start fights with me."

"So why do they do it?"

"I dunno," I said. "I suppose they want to wear it like a badge of honour: 'Look at me, I battered Gary Rosiçky, how great am I?'"

He sighed, then said, "Gary, I know about your mutant powers, and how powerful they make you. I spoke to your father about it recently. I know your power will continue to grow until you have reached full adulthood. What I'm trying to say, and what your father wanted me to stress, is that you have to use your powers responsibly. You can't keep getting into fights or you will seriously injure somebody."

"So what then? You want me to run away whenever someone tries to pick a fight? Not likely."

"I want you to keep from hurting anybody. If that means you have to run away from a fight, then that's what you'll have to do. Gary, I have nothing against mutants. Your sister will testify to that. I try to treat my mutant pupils in exactly the same way as my human pupils. But I can't deny the fact that being a mutant requires an extra level of maturity at your age, to resist the temptation to use your powers irresponsibly. It's especially important for somebody as powerful as you or your sister."

I had switched off by this point. I'd heard this speech, or a version of it, more times than I could remember.

"Is that all?" I asked impatiently.

"Not quite. Gary, this is a problem you have to address now or it's going to stay with you for the rest of your life. Talk to your parents, talk to Annie, and ask their advice. You've got to find some way to keep yourself in control."

"Why don't you just tell people to stop picking fights with me? They're the problem, not me."

He shook his head and repeated, "Gary, you have to learn to keep yourself under control. Perhaps a detention or two will curb your aggressive tendencies. Yes, an hour's detention every Wednesday from now until the end of term."

"What? What about the guys who started the fight?" I demanded.

"One of them has broken ribs, one of them has a broken arm, and the third has lost five of his teeth. I think they suffered enough in the fight. That's all, you can go."

I pushed the chair back hard, knocking it over in the process, and stormed furiously to the door, ignoring the Head's voice telling me to pick up the chair. I slammed the office door behind me, and smacked my fist angrily into the wall. The plaster and brickwork buckled and crumpled under my punch, and when I pulled my hand back, my knuckles were bruised and bleeding. I hadn't felt a thing.

It was typical, just typical of the Headmaster to blame the whole thing on me. I hadn't started the fight. I'd _finished_ it in less than fifteen seconds, but it had been self defence. All right, perhaps I gone a little far with some of the injuries I had dished out, but when I got angry I really went berserk, and just lost control of myself. Anyway, it wasn't my fault I'd been born with my mutant powers. They came from my father's side, I knew that. Dad was some sort of genetically altered mutant – he'd been born human – though I wasn't too clear on exactly what had happened to him. Mum was a mutant too – a naturally born one – and Dad's eight different mutant powers had passed on to Annie and myself. That was where I got my incredible fighting abilities.

I'd been seven years old when I'd learned to use my first mutation, my superhuman body strength. I'd been at school, and a boy two or three years older had been bothering me, demanding that I give him my lunch money. I'd refused; he'd punched me in the face; I hadn't felt a thing. I'd punched him back, and watched in shock as he was thrown about ten feet away from me, his nose pouring blood. From that day on, my life had never been the same. I'd always known that I was different from the other children – my parents had never made our mutanthood a secret – but it was on that day when the realisation had fully struck me. People had started treating me differently; guys who might otherwise have tried to bully me were now terrified beyond belief; girls who had previously looked down on me began to give me a few admiring glances now and again. A lot of people hated me for being a mutant, but a few – generally the most intelligent and broad-minded – didn't care. I didn't care either. I was a loner, always had been, and had no real desire to spend time with other people. My family were the only ones who understood or loved me.

When I was nine, I had discovered the second of the four gifts I had inherited from my father. I'd always known that when I got angry I seemed to fight better, but I hadn't known this was one of my mutations. I had been walking home from school, aware of a pair of intrigued girls none too surreptitiously following me, when I had spotted one of my friends – one of the few people whose opinion of me hadn't changed on finding out I was a mutant – being picked on by some older guys. My anger had risen, and I'd found myself running over towards them and shoving them away, with a speed and strength amplified by my rage. At first I'd thought nothing of it, but when I'd mentioned it to Dad, he'd told me that this was something that happened to him too: some kind of berserk fury that amplified all of the other powers he possessed. It was on that day when I realised just how powerful I really was, and could become.

My third and fourth mutations had manifested themselves on the same day, when I was thirteen. By this time I was in secondary school, and many of the elder boys' fear of me had turned into downright hatred. A gang of them had got together, armed with knives, rocks, and anything else they could get their hands on, resolved to heal their wounded pride by teaching me a lesson. Telepathic Annie had warned me in advance, and so I'd been ready for them. My plan had been to find some way past the ambush they had set up for me, then surprise them from behind. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any way of getting past without them noticing. Determined as I was to find some way of sneaking past them, I had subconsciously triggered another mutation. Annie had been with me, and she'd been the first to notice. My body had perfectly camouflaged itself, like that of a chameleon, each cell of my skin taking on the appearance of whatever lay behind it. With this body camouflage in place, it had been a simple matter to run past the guys who were waiting to jump out on me, only just stopping myself from laughing when I saw how oblivious they were. When I had got around behind them, it was time for me to well and truly turn the tables on them. Annie had implored me not to hurt them, only to scare them away, to discourage them from trying to attack me again, and I could still hear her telepathic voice in my mind, urging me not to injure anyone. Buoyed by adrenaline, and fuelled by my anger, I'd unlocked my fourth and last mutation. Deactivating my camouflage, I'd let the guys see me, given them just enough time to realise I was there, before launching my attack. Taking a deep breath, I felt the strangest tingling sensation in my lungs and throat – then I exhaled. From my throat came forth a jet of red-hot flame that leapt through the air towards the older boys, singing the air before their faces. As one their fear mushroomed, they screamed, and fled away from me. I was running after them, inhaling another deep breath, preparing to flame them again, when I felt a hand on my arm and a calming voice in my mind, and Annie was beside me.

I'd never used that power again. My parents had been angry, but there had been something else there too – fear. I didn't have to be telepathic to sense that, but fear of what? Fear of retribution? Fear of me? Fear that I was going to get into trouble? I didn't know, but my mother and father had tried desperately to impress upon me the importance of being careful with my powers. I was a little scared myself to be honest, of what I had done, of the implications, of the way I was pushing back the boundaries of possibility. I'd listened to my parents, and that had been the first and last time I had been a human flamethrower. The story had spread around the school like wildfire, no pun intended, and for the next few weeks nobody had dared cross me, for fear of what might happen. It hadn't lasted. It never did. No matter what lessons they learned, it seemed people always forgot them quickly enough. Within a month or two, it was back to normal at school: guys trying to start fights with me; people hating me for being a mutant; discrimination from the teachers and other staff. Thus my anger too remained, driving me every day,.

Annie had a different set of powers, the four of Dad's eight that I didn't have. She was telepathic – apparently she had been communicating this way with Dad while she was still inside Mum. She had some kind healing power, which I knew very little about, and had seen no evidence of, other than the fact that Annie never had any illnesses or injuries. She was also telekinetic, though I had never seen her use this power either. Finally Annie's eyes – her pupils were gold, like Dad's, as a result of the mutation – possessed both X-ray and telescopic vision. I often envied her this last power…the ability to look through girls' clothes sounded like something I would have enjoyed using.

Just as I was thinking about my sister, I heard a noise from up ahead, and looked up to see what was happening. It was Annie, also on her way home from school, being harassed by some of the boys in her year. I was still pissed off from my meeting with the Headmaster, and my anger began to rise in my veins again as I saw my sister being treated this way.

"Hey, freak!" one of the guys was shouting at Annie. "Mutant freak! Your brother's a mutant too, isn't he? And your parents! Your whole family are just freaks, aren't they?"

He gave Annie a shove, and tried to pull at her sun-glasses. Annie wore them to protect her super-sensitive eyes from being hurt by bright lights, and the guys obviously knew this. She was shoved hard again, and my anger overflowed. I flexed the muscles in my arms, and ran over towards them.

"What are you going to do now, freak?" the guy mocked her. "Going to use your powers on me? Going to get your little brother to beat me up?"

Annie said nothing, just kept walking. I couldn't understand why she wasn't using her powers to protect herself. If she wasn't going to, I would protect her instead. I grabbed the guy from behind, my fingers grasping the material of his coat, and lifted him off the ground. He gave a cry of surprise, and twisted in my grip, but couldn't break free.

"Leave my sister alone," I snapped. "That goes for the rest of you too."

There were three others; they were all at least two years older and a foot taller than me, but I had no reason to be afraid. The three of them looked at me, annoyed at their fun being interrupted, and for a moment it seemed they were going to start a fight. Then they remembered who I was, what powers I had, and thought better of it. I dropped the guy on the ground, he scrambled to his feet, and the four of them began to back away nervously. I moved forward as if to go after them, but Annie gently put a hand on my shoulder, and I stopped. Once the four guys they had reached a safe distance, they turned and continued on their way as if nothing had happened. I glared at them until they were gone, and then I felt the anger in my veins begin to subside, and I took a deep breath to try and calm myself.

"Are you all right?" I asked Annie, putting a comforting hand on her arm.

She gave me a rueful smile, "I'm fine. Gary, there was no need for you to do that."

"What are you talking about? They were harassing you! Weren't you going to do anything about it?"

Annie shook her head, setting her short brown hair swaying, "No."

"You were just going to keep walking?"

"Yes."

I was puzzled, "Why?"

"Because it's the only thing to do. Oh, I know I could have used my powers to scare the living daylights out of them, like you do, but I don't use my gifts like that."

"So you just let people treat you like dirt?"

"It's the right thing to do. We can't use our powers to hurt other people."

"Why not?"

"Because it'd be wrong. We should protect them instead."

Now I was really confused, "Why do you want to protect people who bully you and treat you like the lowest form of life? They're scum."

"No, Gary. They can't help being ignorant and prejudiced. They're innocent, in a way."

Annie smiled at me, and I felt her telepathic power passing over me, trying to calm my anger. Sometimes we just didn't see eye to eye at all. When people insulted or attacked me, I only did what was natural: I fought back. I couldn't understand why Annie just let people get away with it. These people had no _right_ to treat me or my sister badly, just because of the way we had been born.

I snorted, "Huh. The way I see it, if we're born with these gifts, we should use them in any way we can to benefit ourselves."

Annie shook her head, "Yes, well…"

"Well, what?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Let's just go home."

It took twenty minutes to walk the rest of the way to our house, and we went in silence. There wasn't anything either of us wanted to say. Annie wasn't a great talker, and the two of us were comfortable enough in each other's presence that there was no need to start a conversation for the sake of it. Besides that, we didn't really have very much in common. I loved Annie – well, of course I did, she was my sister – but we simply didn't understand one another at all. I couldn't fathom her, not one bit. We were as different and as opposite as the two Poles. Annie possessed a calmness, an inner peace, that I had never known, and that was completely alien to me. She knew no anger and bore no hatred towards those who were prejudiced against her. Maybe it was because she was a girl. Girls had it easier than boys; they didn't have to put up with people constantly trying to prove that they were bigger and tougher than you. They didn't have to spend half their time arguing and fighting with each other; they could just do…well, whatever it was girls did. I had to admit, I didn't know much about what girls did. I knew it was different from what boys did.

It was when we arrived at our house, and approached the front door, that Annie's head suddenly jerked up and she turned to me and said, "We've got visitors."

"Huh? Who?"

"Mutants. They're inside with Mum and Dad. I can sense their presence."

"Who are they?"

"I'm not sure. I _think_ I recognise their thought patterns, so it's probably someone I've met before…but I could be wrong."

I frowned slightly. I didn't know of any mutant friends my parents had. Obviously there were other mutants in the world, but I'd never seen or met any. I wondered who these people were, as I pushed open the front door and we walked inside.

"We're home!" I called.

"Annie? Gary?" came Dad's voice from the front room. "Could you come in here, please?"

I dropped my schoolbag in the hall, and was taking off my jacket as I entered the front room. Annie was right behind me. The four adults in the room looked over as we entered. I didn't recognise the two people who were sitting with my mother and father. The nearest of the two was a blond woman, probably the same age as my parents, who gave me a friendly smile. I eyed her suspiciously, then faced the other stranger. He too was about the same age as my dad, and he gave me a half-hearted sort of wave from his semi-slouched position in the armchair.

"Annie, Gary," said Mum. "We'd like you to meet two friends of ours. This is Chris Garcia and Felicity Arkwright."

"You can call me Fliss," the woman said – she was an American.

"You're mutants," Annie said.

"How did you know?" the man – Chris – asked, with a look of surprise on his face.

"Annie's telepathic," Dad explained. "I'm glad you two have just got home from school. There's something your mother and I need to talk to you about."

"What?" I asked.

"We're moving to New York."

Annie gave a little gasp, and I felt my own excitement and shock rise.

"What, _seriously_?!" I heard myself exclaiming. "How come?"

"That will take a bit of explaining," said Mum. "And I'm not too sure how much of it we want to tell you."

"There's no point hiding anything from them; Annie will just read your mind," Dad told her. "All right, I'll try to explain it as best I can. I should start off by mentioning one very important thing. Annie, Gary, it's essential that you learn this: not all mutants are good people. You've never met any mutants other than yourselves or your mother and me. Not every mutant thinks the way we do. There are mutants out there who despise humanity, who see them as lesser beings who aren't fit to live alongside us, and who are determined to destroy the human race."

Annie must have been mind-reading, as she suddenly said, "You're talking about the Plague, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Dad. "We believe the Plague was started by a group of these mutants, a very powerful group who call themselves the Brotherhood of Mutants."

"But what does that have to do with us moving to New York?" I asked impatiently.

"I'm getting to that," Dad said. "The Brotherhood are the most powerful group of human-hating mutants in the world. They've tried on many occasions to achieve their genocidal aims, but fortunately for humanity, there exists a counter-force of mutants pledged to protect humans. They call themselves the X-Men."

"The X-Men?" I said.

"Yes. Chris and Felicity here are two of their members. Your mother and I were too, a long time ago, before you or Annie were born."

I gaped. This was unreal. This couldn't be true. I glanced at Annie. She would be able to tell if Dad was making this up. To my surprise she nodded and said, "It's true."

"Wow," was all I could say.

Annie looked at Dad, "So that's why we're going to New York? You're going to join up with the X-Men again?"

"Yes and no. I will be working to try and find a way to fight the Plague. My healing power may be of some use against it. I won't be fighting alongside Chris and the rest."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because your mother and I swore we would never fight again while you two were still depending on us," my father told me. "You and Annie are more important to me than – well, anything. I won't risk the possibility of you ending up without a father."

I raised my eyebrows. My heart had begun to beat faster. This was all so new and exciting, I wasn't sure what to make of it. It was clearly all true, since Annie would know if they were lying. I couldn't believe my mother and father were – or had been – members of some elite group of mutants. I hadn't even known such a group existed. I'd never thought of my parents as anything other than ordinary people – well, ordinary mutants – living ordinary lives with ordinary jobs: Mum the zoology researcher, and Dad the security consultant. How could they be members of these – what were they called – X-Men?

Was that the life they were going back to now? What was this going to mean for Annie and myself? Was this going to be an escape from the life I had grown to hate? Was this an escape from being despised and discriminated against at school, to move on and do something more interesting with my life? Was it possible to actually use my powers to change the world in some way, to change the world so that myself and other mutants would not be hated, and would not have to put up with humanity's bigotry?

Becoming intrigued, I asked, "So what will Annie and I be doing while you and Mum are working on this – plague?"

"You'll be at school, of course."

I groaned. So much for _that_ hope. A school in New York would be just as bad as a school here. American kids would just as bad as Scottish ones. So much for my hopes that I could begin to use my powers to actually _do_ something.

Mum saw my unhappiness plain on my face, and grinned, "It's not what you're thinking, Gary. It's a school, but nothing like the one you're at just now. I think it's safe to say it will be quite different from any school you've ever seen before."

Now I was intrigued…


	4. Among my own Kind

Chapter Two: Among my own Kind

As the jet dipped, descending out of the cloud-line, Annie and I got our first look at our new school. I wasn't sure exactly what I had been expecting it to look like. On one hand, all schools looked the same, but on the other hand, I was assuming that a unique school for mutants would be somewhat different from anything I'd previously seen. I certainly hadn't been expecting to see a huge mansion with extensive gardens, set in the middle of a beautiful forested estate. Craning my neck to peer out of the view-port, I watched as we flew lower, and I could see things in more detail. It was incredible.

"So this is a school exclusively for mutants?" Annie asked – the jet's engine made almost no noise, and I was amazed how clearly I could hear her speak over it.

"That's right," Mum said. "Your father and I – and Chris – first came here when I was fifteen years old. Things were a bit different back then, but in many ways I think they've stayed the same too."

"Of course, the school is only on the above-ground floors," said Dad. "We already told you that the underground levels house the X-Men headquarters, our last line of defence."

"It's amazing…" I breathed. "It's what I've always dreamed of, a mutant-only school. Why didn't you ever bring us here before?"

Dad sighed, then said, "Because we didn't want you to grow up without any contact with humans. We wanted you to learn to co-exist with humans, so that you would know their safety was worth fighting for."

I snorted. I hadn't learned anything of the kind. So far all I had learned about humans was that they hated mutants, and would always do so, no matter what good we might do for them.

"So why bring us here now?" I asked.

"Because I'm sworn to protect you and Annie, and I can't do that while I'm working on trying to cure this plague. This is the only place on Earth where I know you will be safe when I'm not around. There are eight X-Men, ten including your mother and myself. No force on Earth is going to get through that."

"Not even the Brotherhood?"

"No, not even them."

Dad sounded confident enough, but Annie was frowning slightly, and I guessed she had just been reading his mind. Was he not as certain as he pretended? 

My parents' friend, the man named Chris, was piloting the jet, and he brought the aircraft down smoothly to perform a vertical landing on a pad beside the mansion. The woman, Felicity, hit a switch, and the rear section of the plane began to open, as a landing ramp lowered itself to the ground.

"After you," she said.

The noon sun beat down on us as we moved out of the plane. Annie and Dad both winced painfully as the light hit their ultra-sensitive mutated eyes. Both reached for their sunglasses, and slipped them on, their relief visible. I looked around, breathing in the fresh air from the trees surrounding the estate, enjoying the cool breeze that rippled through my hair. 

A reception party of sorts was approaching from the front entrance of the mansion building. The first was a tall man wearing red-tinted shades, and behind him a younger man and woman were walking close together. Each of them appeared to breathe a sigh of relief as they saw my mother and father emerging from the shade underneath the jet.

"Oculus," the man with the red glasses said, as he greeted my father. "Welcome back. It's good to see you."

"You too, Cyclops."

Cyclops? That was the guy's name? And what had he called my father? Dad's name was Neil Rosiçky; I had never heard him called – whatever it was – before. Was it a nickname or something?

"I managed to get Neil to listen to reason," Chris was saying with a grin. "I didn't have to resort to begging, or threats, or bribery, or…"

Dad smiled, "Still got the wit, I see. I always wondered if that was an extra mutation of yours."

"No way; you could never be born with a sense of humour as good as mine."

"I don't know about good…it's certainly unique."

"Oh, stop it. You're making me blush," said Chris. "Anyway, enough repartee. I think we have some introductions to make."

Dad nodded, and stood behind Annie, putting his hands on her shoulders, "This is my daughter, Annie, and my son Gary. Kids, welcome to New York, and your new school. This is Cyclops – leader of the X-Men – and Rogue and Iceman, two of the others."

Annie smiled, and I simply nodded. I hated being the centre of attention, and was always nervous when presented to people. As we began to walk towards the mansion, I was relieved to find the conversation turn away from Annie and myself, as the adults got down to business, forgetting about us.

"So what's the situation?" asked Chris.

"Logan reported back a short while ago," said the man named Cyclops. "Seems the Brotherhood _were_ in Brazil, but they left very recently – and in quite a hurry, it seems. There were eight or nine of them, according to locals. The only one whose description we recognise is Pyro. It seems he's their leader now." 

"What about Magneto and Mystique?" asked my mother.

"We haven't seen or heard from either of them in the last few years. We can only assume Magneto is dead – there's no other reason for him to suddenly disappear. As for Mystique, we don't know. The two of them were very close – not in a romantic way, but Magneto meant a lot to her – without him, she may have lost her icon and inspiration. We ourselves very nearly lost our way when we lost the Professor, but we've pulled through. We had hoped that the Brotherhood might die along with Magneto, but it seems Pyro has taken command."

"Where are they now?" Felicity asked.

"We don't know. Rumours suggest they were heading to the US, but we've no idea whereabouts. It's a huge area to cover, but we have to find them. Neil, I was wondering if you would be willing to use Cerebro. I know it's dangerous for you…"

Dad hesitated, then said, "I'll do it. My telepathy isn't as powerful as Xavier's was – it never will be – but I think I'm strong enough that I won't be in any serious danger."

"OK," Cyclops replied. "Logan and the others are on their way back in the second jet. Until we know where the Brotherhood are, I don't want any of us to leave the mansion. We don't know what the Brotherhood plan to do next, but there is a distinct possibility that they will move against us. If there are nine of them now, it means they almost equal us in numbers, and we don't know what mutant powers they have. We have to stay here; we can't risk leaving the children undefended."

Dad frowned, then sighed, "I agree with that, but you brought me over here to help fight the Plague. I can't do that from here. I need to go and work with medical staff in an area that's affected."

"That leaves nine of us," said Felicity, not sounding pleased. "And you're the most powerful mutant in the world! They wouldn't dare attack if you stayed here!"

"Yes, and the millions of Plague victims would die if I stayed," my father countered. "I can't ignore that."

She conceded, "Of course, you're right. So that leaves nine of us."

"Eight," said Mum. "I'll be going with Neil. Whatever danger we face, we face it together."

Chris and Felicity both looked at her, and both were about to argue, when Cyclops raised his hands, "Wait, this isn't the time. I'm going to call a meeting downstairs once the others get back. We can discuss this fully at that time. For now, we'll show you to your rooms, and let Annie and Gary settle into their new home."

We were now nearing the front entrance of the building, passing on our left a group of kids tossing around a basketball. Cyclops called the oldest boy over, and said to him, "Dominic, this is Annie and Gary. They're new here, and they'll be sharing your room. I'd like you to take them to the room, help them get settled, then show them around the school."

"OK," the boy said. "This way."

Annie and I followed him while the adults went off another way. I watched them go for a moment, finding myself wishing I could go with them. I wanted to hear more about what was going on. I hadn't understood a lot of what they'd said, and I'd never heard of any of the people they were talking about, but that didn't put me off. It was intriguing…it made me feel – I couldn't think of the word – it was as if it was what I had wanted to do my entire life, without even knowing it. All my life I had used my powers to fight, but without anything to fight for other than pride. I had just had a glimpse into the life that my parents and their friends led – fighting for what they believed was right, making a difference to the world and to the lives of others – and I knew that was what I wanted to do too. I knew it was what I _was_ going to do. I wasn't telepathic and I couldn't predict the future, but I knew, in some intangible, ethereal sense, that it was what I was destined to do.

I was distracted from my thoughts by the voice of the other boy, saying, "I'm Dominic. What were your names again?"

"Gary."

"Annie."

He extended his hand, and each of us shook it. It was then I noticed he was wearing gloves – strange. It was hot enough already – why was he wearing gloves?

"Glad to know you," he was saying. "You came over in the jet, yeah? With Shapeshifter and Shock? Where you guys from?"

"Edinburgh."

He raised his eyebrows, "Oh, cool. I'm from London myself. Good to have some more Britons on board. The room's this way. Do you need a hand with your luggage?"

He was addressing Annie. She shook her head, "I'm OK. Thanks."

"OK. Follow me."

Dominic led us inside the building – I was glad to get out of the oppressive heat and into the shade – and I decided to ask him about the gloves.

"Why are you wearing those?" I said, pointing to his hands. "If you don't mind my asking."

He looked down at his gloves, "What, these? Oh, it's 'cause of my mutation. I'll tell you later. Right now it's time for your guided tour. OK, our room is up on the second floor; I'll try to show you everything else on the way. Starting right here, first on our left is the gymnasium – that's where we have our unarmed combat classes, but you can go there in your own time as well – and on the right here is the indoor swimming pool. We don't tend to use that during the summer since there's one outside too. That door goes into the games room – we've got TV, computers, pool tables, and loads of other stuff that you'll see for yourself."

He added with a grin, "The adults don't usually venture in there, but you never know who you'll find sitting in there, half-comatose, watching TV at four in the morning."

I grinned back. I liked Dominic already. It looked as if this place was going to be all right after all. There certainly wasn't any shortage of things to do. Annie, as usual, had her mind on more practical matters.

"So where are our other classes held?" she asked. "When are we going to meet the teachers?"

"You've already met them," he replied. "Well, some of them. All of the adults here teach different classes. There's eight of them, so it's a lot of work. But they're cool, so it's never any bother. The class rooms and the teachers' offices are down that way. You can go down and have a look later if you want, but you'll be spending plenty of time there soon enough. All right – what's next? Oh yeah."

We turned the corner, found a staircase, and Dominic took us up to the first floor.

"All right, the dining room is through that door over there. We'll be heading there shortly, 'cause I'm starving. The laundry rooms are down that way. That corridor is where the adults' bedrooms are. Usually there's no need to go down there unless you're in trouble, or you're playing a prank. Not that I've ever been in either of those situations, of course."

"Yeah, I bet," I said.

He grinned, "All right, up to the second floor."

We took another staircase up. Annie was beginning to struggle with the heavy bags she was carrying, and I offered to help. She smiled but refused, and we followed Dominic as he led us along the corridor, stopping at a room on the right, pushing open the door.

"This is our room," he said, holding the door open for us to manoeuvre our luggage inside. "There are four of us now, but I don't know if our room-mate – oh, there she is. Hi, Marina."

On the bed nearest the wall sat a girl, her arms wrapped around her legs which were pulled tightly towards her. She looked over at us, flinching slightly, as if she was expecting one of us to attack her at any moment. I guessed she was about my age – Dominic was probably closer to Annie's – and she turned away quickly, burying her tear-streaked face in her arms, her body trembling.

"Are you all right?" Annie asked her, sounding concerned.

The girl didn't respond, hugging her legs even tighter, moving closer to the wall.

"Is she all right?" Annie said, this time addressing Dominic.

He shook his head, and whispered, "I don't really know. She's got…problems."

"Mental illness?"

"I don't know. She's only been here two weeks. She hardly ever talks. There's something eating at her…some kind of trauma. That's all I've been told. The adults have some idea of what's wrong with her, but they haven't told me what it is. They've got her sharing a room with me 'cause I tend to get on well with people, and she needs friends to help her sort herself out."

I didn't know what to make of that. Annie had put down her luggage, and was walking over towards the bed. The younger girl looked up apprehensively as my sister approached, and her body tensed, her eyes going wide with fear. She watched every moment Annie made with dread, as if she thought my sister were about to hit her. Annie knelt down beside the bed, and she slowly reached out to take the girl's hand. The girl jerked her hand away, now shaking in terror.

"Marina?" Annie said softly. "That's your name, isn't it?"

The girl hesitated, then nodded.

"I'm not going to hurt you," said Annie. "I'm going to be your friend, OK?"

Marina shook her head, her tears beginning to trickle out of her eyes again, as she curled herself into a foetal position and faced the wall.

"Like I said, she doesn't say much," Dominic whispered to me. "I wish I knew more about her. It's difficult to try and get to know her otherwise."

"She's a mutant?"

"Of course. Everybody here is."

I guessed that was probably the reason for her trauma. If she had had to experience the kind of anti-mutant hatred that I knew only too well, who knew what damage might have been done to her psyche? Annie had rejoined us by this point, and said in a low voice, "There's definitely something wrong with her. I'm trying to read her mind, but I can't piece any of it together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that's been taken apart and put back together the wrong way."

Sobbing noises could be heard coming from the young girl, and I said, "So what do we do?"

Annie shrugged, and said, "Well, it probably doesn't help to hear us whispering about her behind her back, talking about how weird she is. I'll try to talk to her and see if I can help her piece herself back together."

"How do you know so much about this?" Dominic asked. "What are you, a psychologist?"

"No, a telepath. Same thing in many ways, only we don't get paid as much."

He grinned, "Fair enough. Well, I'm off to grab some food. Coming?"

"Sure," I said.

"Marina? You want to go and get something to eat?" Dominic asked.

The girl looked up, and shook her head hurriedly.

"You haven't eaten all day; do you want me to bring you something?"

Marina hesitated, looking at us uncertainly, then she nodded.

"OK," said Dominic. "We'll be back soon. Annie, you coming?"

"No…" said my sister. "I, uh, think I'll stay here and unpack some of my things. You two go ahead."

Clearly Annie wanted to stay and talk to Marina. I was surprised at how quickly my sister had set herself the task of helping this girl, but Annie was always willing to go out of her way for other people, to help them through bad times. Whatever was wrong with Marina, it was clear she was in distress, and Annie couldn't bear to stand by and watch people suffer. I watched as Annie put her bags down on the bed nearest to Marina's, then Dominic and I left the room to go and find some food.

A few minutes later, we were sitting in the dining room, where Dominic had grabbed a snack and a can of juice, and looked to have something on his mind. After a while he said uncertainly, "So you and Annie…are you just friends, or is there something more to it than that?"

"She's my sister."

He blinked, "Really? Wow, that's unusual. I've never heard of a brother and sister both being mutants. You're twins, then?"

"No, she's older than me. Our parents are mutants – that's why we are too."

"Oh, right. Who's your parents? Do I know them?"

"Neil and Chloe Rosiçky."

Dominic nearly choked, spraying juice over the table. He gasped, "Are you _serious_?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"The Rosiçkys are _legends_, mate! They defeated the most powerful mutant in the world! _Every_ kid here knows about Oculus and Gaia!"

"Who?"

He looked at me strangely, "That's their mutant names. Neil – your father, I mean – is called Oculus, and your mum's called Gaia."

I frowned. Then I remembered Cyclops calling Dad by an odd name just after we arrived. Yes, it had been Oculus. But what did that mean?

"But surely you must already know about that," Dominic was saying.

"No. I didn't know any of this. I didn't even know this place existed."

"Your parents never told you anything?"

"No…I guess not. I don't get it. What are these names all about?"

Dominic swallowed his mouthful, and said, "Everybody here has a mutant name. It's kind of a nickname. You choose your name based on the mutant powers you have. Um, I'm not explaining this very well, am I?"

"Well…"

"OK, listen. Your Mum's called Gaia because she can talk to animals, right? Your Dad's called Oculus because one of his mutations is his eyesight."

"Yeah, I get that part. But what's it all about? Why do you do it?"

He shrugged, "Everyone here does it. It's traditional. It's cool. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose. What's your 'mutant name', then?"

"Mine? It's Helios."

"Why?"

"I'll show you. Let's go outside."

Intrigued, I got up and followed him through the school building to the front entrance. It was the same door by which we had first entered the building, and I found myself once again admiring the attractive surroundings. Growing up in a city, I'd never been able to appreciate natural beauty like this. The smell of the fresh air from the trees was a heavenly sensation, and I breathed in deeply as we walked across the grass. Dominic stopped, and began pulling off one of his gloves, the one on his right hand.

"All right, watch this," he said, dropping it on the grass and flexing his hands.

The sun was still overhead, and I screwed up my eyes against it as I observed Dominic stretching his right arm up into the air. He spread his right hand, bathing it in the sunlight. I watched with widening eyes as the palm of his hand acted like a mirror, perfectly reflecting the sun, shining a beam of light off into the sky.

"Wow," I breathed.

"It gets better, watch this."

He curved his palm, clenching his hand inwards slightly, and the beam of light began to change, narrowing and intensifying until it was a needle-thin ray, like a laser. Dominic moved his wrist, and the beam of light reflecting from his hand began to angle towards the ground. There was a small rock by his feet, and he stepped back slightly, aiming the beam of light at the rock. I backed off a little as the laser of sun-light began to shine on to the rock, penetrating its surface, cutting through the stone like a knife through butter. Dominic moved his hand, and the laser shifted slightly, continuing to slice through the rock. He kept moving his hand until the stone had been cut in two, then closed his fist, and the light ray disappeared.

"Wow," I said. "So that's why you're called Helios."

"Yeah. My right hand can reflect sunlight; my left hand can absorb and store it."

"Amazing. When did you learn you could do it?"

"I think I was about eight. I'd been out in the sun all day, and I decided to sneak into my next door neighbour's garden to explore. They had a really big garden, and I was convinced there was a secret passage somewhere. Anyway, I remember climbing over the fence, and moving across the grass, when suddenly I heard a growl and this gigantic dog starting running towards me. It probably wasn't that big; I was probably just scared, but I started running to get back over the fence before it could get at me. I wasn't fast enough, and it caught up with me. I lost my balance and fell over, and I remember raising my hands in front of me to protect myself. The fear must have triggered my mutation, and the sunlight began reflecting off my right hand into the dog's eyes. It was blinded for a few moments, and I managed to get away."

"What happened? Did you tell your parents?"

"Yeah. I didn't really understand what had happened, and I was just scared and confused. I told them everything. They were my foster parents – my real mum and dad died when I was a baby – but they were wonderful people. They couldn't have any children of their own, and they were over the moon when they were finally able to adopt a child. When I told them what had happened with the dog, they must have known right away that I was a mutant. They didn't hate me for it; like I said, they were really wonderful people. They did their best to keep it a secret, so people wouldn't hate me at school."

"Yeah…I know what that's like."

He continued, "I soon learned I couldn't switch my gift on and off; it's continually active. So I have to wear gloves all the time to keep from blinding people. I guess that answers your earlier question."

"You can take them off at night or when it's dark, surely?"

Dominic shook his head, "That's when the power in my left hand becomes active. My left palm absorbs solar energy, and when it's dark, it will shine the light out of my hand like a torch."

"Cool."

"Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it's a pain. The gloves block the sunlight from being absorbed. Even then, a little gets through, so I have to keep them on at night to obstruct the light from my hand."

"So how long have you been here?"

"Four years. I'll be sixteen next month."

"I'm fourteen."

"So what powers do you have?" he asked.

I told him. I added, "I inherited them all from my father."

"Yes, of course. So you're not really a mutant, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you inherit things from your parents, they're not mutations, are they? You're just your dad's son."

"Yeah…yeah, I suppose."

He was looking over my shoulder, "Hey, here come your mum and dad now."

I turned round to see my parents making their way across the garden towards us.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi, Gary. Where's Annie?" said Mum.

"She's up in our room. What's happening?"

"We've just come to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

She nodded, "Your father and I are going to do whatever we can to fight this Plague. We're heading for one of the areas where it is most widespread: Buenos Aires."

"Argentina?"

"Yes. Cyclops is taking us down in one of the jets."

"When are you coming back?"

"I don't know," my mother said. "As soon as we can, I promise. In the meantime, you and Annie will be safe here. I know this place is new to you, and a lot of it is very different, but try to treat it as a normal school."

"I'll miss you," I said unhappily.

"I know. But you'll be happy here. If you need help, or if you want to talk to an adult, try Felicity or Chris. They're the closest friends your father and I have; you can think of them as an aunt and uncle if you want."

Dad spoke up, "Gary, I wish I could tell you what's going to happen, but nobody can predict the future. The Brotherhood are our enemies, and we don't know where they are or what they'll try. I've tried to find out where they are – there's a device here in the school that amplifies my telepathy – but with no success; it's been several years since I last used the machine. What I'm trying to say is: don't do anything careless. The X-Men will protect you, but they can only do that if you stay here. I know you won't like being restricted, but it's vital you don't leave the estate. Will you promise me that?"

"Yeah…OK."

"All right. I wish I could say more, but we have to go now. Every minute is vital."

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Annie?" I asked.

"I am."

Of course. Their telepathy. Dad laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently; Mum leaned close to kiss me on the cheek, and then the two of them were leaving, on their way to the pad where the jet was prepping for take-off. My feelings were uncertain as I watched them go. It was the first time in my life when I would be away from my parents for any length of time, and I didn't know what to make of it. A mother and father were the two pillars around which a child built their life, and just as I had arrived in this new and strange environment, my two pillars of familiarity were being taken away. It was going to take a bit of getting used too. At least I still had Annie.

"Wow…" Dominic was saying, as my parents moved towards the jet. "They're incredible."

No they weren't. They were just my mum and dad. There was nothing unusual or out of the ordinary about them. Or so I had thought. I was no different from any other child, who based their opinion of what was normal for a person, on the two people they knew best: their parents. I began to realise there was a lot about my mother and father that had been unknown to me. A lot of surprises. They weren't unpleasant surprises, but the fact that they were surprises was unpleasant. Why had this – all of this: the school; the X-Men; the Brotherhood; the mutant struggle and my parents' part in it – why had it all been hidden from me? Was there something my mum and dad didn't want me to know, or didn't want me to be exposed to?

They should have brought me to this school years ago. Even although I had never been before, it felt strangely like home. I belonged here. I didn't belong out there in a world where we mutants were hated for being what we were. Here, living with other mutants, people who would understand me and would not fear me, was where I belonged. Here I could be happy. This place was calm…peaceful…friendly…without hatred, animosity, jealousy, fear…most importantly without humans. If only the whole world could be like that.


	5. The Brotherhood of Mutants

Chapter Three: The Brotherhood of Mutants

In the space of a few days, Annie and I had already settled into our new environment. Everything about this place was better than the life I had known before: I was among friends, people who could understand my feelings and my problems; our classes were taught by people who did it because they genuinely wanted to help us, rather than because they were paid for it; there were no humans and their bigoted hatred of our kind; there was always something interesting to do or learn, and I had friends to share it with. There was only one thing missing: my parents. I was a little upset that they weren't keeping in touch, but Annie had said they would be too busy – their task was a huge undertaking – and she was probably right. And despite their lack of contact, I wasn't lonely. Dominic and I had become great friends, while Annie and I were together a lot, if not most of the time.

I should have been happy. My life was finally following a path that felt right, leading me somewhere I knew I wanted to go, giving me the chance to grow up and use my powers to improve the world. And I _was_ happy. Yet still, as hard as I tried, I still couldn't shake the feeling of worry that had set in since the moment the jet carrying away my parents had disappeared into the distance. This shadowy, enigmatic enemy called the Brotherhood – about whom I had been told so little – just how big a threat to our peace and security were they? It occurred to me that the reason why I hadn't been told much about them may be quite simple: nobody knew very much about them.

Still, the X-Men were on our side. I had met all of them by now, and Dad's original assessment seemed accurate: nothing on Earth could possibly get past my protectors. I was certainly glad they _were_ on my side. They were an unusual group, to be sure: Cyclops, the leader, always calm, composed, a perfectionist. He was responsible, caring, like a father figure to some of the younger children, yet always slightly aloof, holding back a part of himself, as if some terrible heartache were eating at him from within; Wolverine, the sullen, silent loner, a person I found myself relating to straight away, but who refused to become close to anyone, a fact which I understood and respected; Iceman and Shapeshifter were the two jokers, two of the youngest, a day didn't go by in their classes without someone playing a practical joke of some kind. Rumour had it they were putting people up to playing pranks in each other's classes, as some kind of competition; Shock was the one I found it easiest to talk to, she was still like a child herself in many ways, enthusiastic, fun-loving, and impetuous. She also had that rare gift that so few adults possessed, the ability to talk to children like an equal. Sometimes it was difficult to believe she was almost the same age as my mother; Rogue was the quiet, mysterious one, who I didn't know very well, I could only begin to imagine the difficulties she must have gone through in life because of her 'gift', rendering her unable to experience physical contact with the ones she loved, which understandably made her reluctant to get to know people; Storm was probably the one I knew the least well, another quiet person who preferred to keep to herself, but was probably the most naturally gifted teacher out of the group; and Nightcrawler, who was probably the most interesting, and certainly the most unusual, of the X-Men. As honest, kind-hearted and friendly as he was, he also possessed a deep sorrow, which Annie reckoned was unhappy memories of the way he had been treated by humans due to his outlandish appearance.

Even alone, each of them was a frightening proposition, though Wolverine was probably the one I would least liked to have faced in a fight. Together they were a hugely formidable, powerful force, but invincible? That was impossible to say. Hopefully it wouldn't need to be put to the test. Nevertheless, my curiosity overcame me, and I decided I wanted to find out more about our enemies, about the Brotherhood. Shock was probably the best person to ask, since she was always ready to take time out to talk with Annie or myself, happy to be fulfilling her role as a sort of temporary mother while my parents were away.

When I got to her office, the door was open, and Shapeshifter was there too, a wide grin on his face as he shared a joke with her. She rolled her eyes, sighed, and told him he was absolutely incorrigible. Both of them looked over as they saw me standing in the doorway, and I said, "Um…I don't want to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Sure," said Shock. "Take a seat."

Shapeshifter moved away from the chair he was leaning against, allowing me to sit in it.

"So what's on your mind?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me about the Brotherhood," I said. "I've heard a lot of people talk about them; I know they're our enemies, and I know they're the reason why I've been brought here – I just want to know more about them, about what we're up against."

"OK," said Shock. "I'll tell you what little we know. As far as we can tell, there are eight or nine people in the Brotherhood, but we only know who one of them is: their leader, a man who calls himself Pyro. He has the ability to control fire. It's like my own power over lightning, but unlike me, he can't create the fire himself."

"Have you ever met him?" I asked.

This time it was Shapeshifter who spoke, "He was a close friend of mine once. Believe it or not, he was once a student at this school. When he was a young man – a year before your sister was born – he decided he didn't agree with the principles taught here, and he joined the Brotherhood. Since then he has risen to become their leader."

"How can he be the leader of the enemy if he was once your friend?"

The two adults looked at each other, then Shapeshifter said, "Gary, I know this will sound condescending…but you're a bit too young to really understand. When you're young, most things appear as simple black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. When you get older, you realise it isn't as simple as that. When you're a child, either you like a person or you don't. When you're an adult, it's more complicated. You can love and hate a person at the same time. They can be your friend and your enemy at the same time. It's difficult to explain – but it's something you have to understand."

"So this Pyro is still your friend?"

"I haven't set eyes on him in sixteen years. I guess the answer is: I don't know. What he's done, what the Brotherhood have done under his leadership, makes us enemies, but on a personal level, I don't know…I certainly don't hate him."

"But he's the one responsible for starting this plague, isn't he? And the assassination of America's President?"

"As far as we know, yes," said Shock. "But…oh, it's difficult for me to explain. It's unfortunate you never knew the Professor or Magneto. They were the perfect example of what I'm trying to tell you. OK, imagine you and Annie had a disagreement over something that you both felt strongly about, something that put you on opposing sides. You'd still love her, wouldn't you? But at the same time, she'd be a rival, possibly even an enemy. Does that help?"

"Yeah…I think so," I said, then asked. "So we don't know anything about the rest of the Brotherhood?"

"Nothing concrete. Cyclops, Rogue and Iceman are working on trying to find out about the other members. They're trying to find any information they can – from old news articles and such – that might give us some clue of who might be in the Brotherhood today. Specifically they're trying to identify the President's assassin, so far with no success."

"So what are the Brotherhood trying to _do_, exactly?"

"We don't know that either," she admitted. "When Magneto was in charge, their goal was protecting the welfare of mutants – at the expense of the welfare of humans, if necessary. We don't know exactly what Pyro is planning to do, but if we're right and they started the Plague, it's an obvious indication they aren't willing to share the planet with humans. They're trying to destroy the human race, something Magneto once tried to do."

"And it's our goal to stop them?"

"Yes. That's what your parents are doing right now. The rest of us are here to protect the school, in case the Brotherhood launch an attack against us."

"Why would Pyro do that if he's your friend?"

"We're not saying he would. All we're saying is that it's possible, and we're guarding against the threat. They know we'll oppose their actions, and they may try to get us out of the way as quickly as possible."

"Can they do that?" I asked. "I mean, if it came down to a fight, who would win?"

"In a straight fight between them and us, I've no way of knowing what would happen. We don't know enough about them, what powers they have."

My concern must have shown on my face, as she added, "Gary, don't worry. An attack made on the school itself would be unsuccessful. The estate is surrounded by security detectors, so we'd know the second they got here. Our radar system would warn us if they arrived in any kind of vehicle or aircraft. The underground levels are shielded by walls made of adamantium, so there's no way that anyone could tunnel in. The school came under attack once before, and the security has been vastly improved to prevent it from happening again."

Afterwards I was on my way back up to my room, if anything more confused than I had been before. All this talk about having enemies you loved, and friends you hated, was really bizarre. At least I knew a bit more about the Brotherhood and what it was they were trying to do. Their Plague was an attempt to wipe out humanity.

__

Can't say I blame them, was the first thought that entered my mind. Then I admonished myself for having such a thought, and decided it was time to eat. I wasn't really hungry, but I wanted to take my mind off things. Despite the assurances Shock had given me, I was still not convinced that we were entirely safe here. As good as the security precautions might be, there was no guarantee that they would stop our enemies. The Brotherhood had killed the President, hadn't they? To do that they must have got through some of the tightest security in all of the US. Was Shock putting too much faith in the security here? I didn't know. There was no doubt that she knew more about the situation, and the dangers involved, than I did, but I felt adults had a tendency to overlook things and to make too many assumptions. Age and experience were all very well, but in my view they engendered complacency, and a tendency to think along the lines of "it's never happened before, so it's not going to happen now."

I shrugged to myself. Maybe I was just being a kid who thought he knew everything. Maybe I was just a pessimist after too many years of being on the receiving end of hostility. Maybe it was natural for me to assume that things would go wrong. As much as I wanted to follow my instincts, maybe I should have more faith. I decided to put my trust in my protectors, and stop worrying.

It wasn't the first time I had made a mistake. If I had known that within a few short hours I would be fighting for my life, what might I have done differently? What steps would I have taken? Would it have made any difference to the eventual outcome? Could it have prevented unnecessary pain and suffering? I would never know.

I hadn't slept well that night – I was still nervous, despite my decision not to worry – it was after midnight and I was still awake. I'd wanted to talk to my room-mates about my fears, but I didn't want Dominic to think I was a coward, and Annie was still devoting most of her time to helping Marina. We still didn't know what was wrong with our youngest friend, and I still hadn't heard her speak to anyone, but Annie seemed to think she was improving. She was certainly spending less time crying or shutting herself away, and seemed to be taking more of an interest in life. Whereas before she didn't appear to care whether she was alive or dead, she was now eating properly and beginning to take more pride in her appearance, spending time in front of the mirror grooming her hair, and trying to dress more attractively. I myself had yet to speak one word to her, but I wouldn't have known what to say even if I had wanted to. I had no experience of girls, other than my sister, and I didn't want to say anything that might hurt Marina and send her back into her shell.

The three of them were asleep now, as I still lay awake, staring at the ceiling, tired but unable to drop off. I just couldn't shake off my fears. Every time I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, my mind began to imagine all kinds of terrible things, all kinds of imminent threats, that might be creeping into our room at this very moment, and I was forced to open my eyes again to check that they weren't there. Eventually I was sick of it, and decided to get up and go for a walk. If I couldn't sleep, I might as well do _something_. I was hungry too – I hadn't eaten much that day – and I decided to head down to the dining room, to see if there were any left-overs from dinner.

It was a warm night, and there was no need to put on any extra clothes to go downstairs. The T-shirt and shorts I wore to bed would be fine. I glanced at the clock next to Annie's bed, but in the darkness I couldn't make out the hands. It was probably about two o'clock. I walked as quietly as I could to the door, and made my way down the corridor to the staircase. It was then that I heard the first of the noises from downstairs. I stopped. What had made that sound? More noises came, and it was clear that there was somebody downstairs. That in itself was not enough to worry me. Sometimes the adults stayed up late, or maybe somebody had had the same idea as me, and was going for a midnight snack.

It was when I reached the stairs that I began to worry. The noises weren't what I might have expected, certainly not the sound of somebody quietly moving around their study, or somebody stealing food from the kitchen. It was coming from the ground floor, I could tell that now. I couldn't immediately think what the noise might be, but my curiosity was piqued, and I decided to go and investigate. Taking the stairs down to the first floor, I decided to go to the dining room after I had checked on the noises, and began to make my way down to the ground floor.

I could hear voices. They were not voices I recognised. This worried me. Although I didn't know everybody in the school on a personal level, I knew what they all sounded like. Whoever these people were, I had never met them before. There were at least three different voices – two male and one female – and I moved closer to find out what was happening. The voices were coming from the main hallway, just inside the entrance, and I headed that way. The lights in the hallway were on, and I tried to find a place where I could take a look without being seen myself. One of the big support pillars, which helped to hold up the first floor, was the perfect cover. I ducked behind it, and looked around the side, my heart beginning to beat more quickly.

There were four people standing in the hallway. All of them were strangers to me. Presently I heard a door open, and a fifth joined them. I shifted my attention to the newcomer – a short man who walked with a slight hunch, but was heavily muscled, and who looked to be slightly older than I was – and listened as he spoke, "So far so good. Seven X-Men neutralised; we're still hunting for the eighth."

There came a metallic _flick_, and I realised one of them was holding a cigarette lighter, having just ignited it.

"Who's on it?" he asked.

"Overlord and Cassandra. I told them to come back here once they've neutralised the last one."

Neutralised? What did that mean? Did it mean…could it mean…_dead_? How could seven of my protectors have been – 'neutralised' – so quickly? Which of them was still active? What the hell was going on?

The lighter was flicked off, and the man holding it said, "Good work, Scarab. All right, it's time to collect what we came for. They'll be upstairs. Gemini, Vertigo, start looking for them."

The woman standing beside him nodded her assent, but the man on her left – Vertigo or Gemini? – didn't seem keen. He said, "Is this really such a good idea? Do we really want to piss off Oculus and Gaia by kidnapping their children?"

__

What? What had he just said? He was talking about my family! What the _hell_ was going on? Who were these people, and what did they want?

"We've been over this already," snapped the man with the lighter, flicking it back on. "They can't touch us in any way if we have their children. That's the last time I want to hear you arguing with my orders! Is that clear?"

The man who had spoken out nodded quickly, "Yes. Sorry, Pyro."

My eyes went wide. Pyro! This was the man Shock had told me about! Which meant – oh, bloody hell – these people were the Brotherhood! They _had_ launched an attack on the school! My worst fears had come to pass! Somehow, I didn't know how, they'd managed to get through the security measures Shock had spoken so highly of, and now they had all but defeated my protectors, the X-Men. How was this possible?

I didn't have any time to think about it. Two of the Brotherhood – the woman and the man who spoken out – were walking away from the rest, presumably heading upstairs to look for me and my sister. They were moving directly towards my hiding place. I was frozen with panic, and I couldn't think what to do.

"We're almost done here," Pyro said, flicking off the lighter once more. "Scarab, go and find Mole. Tell him we'll be moving out soon."

The small man with the slight hunch in his back disappeared back the way he had come, closing the door behind him. This left Pyro, their leader, with the one man who had not spoken yet. The silent one stood with his arms folded, his face emotionless, as he waited for action. He was not my immediate concern. My immediate concern was the two members of the Brotherhood who were heading towards my hiding place. I got a closer look as they approached – both of them were in their teens, probably about Annie's age – and I knew I had to think of some way to escape detection. My mind was in such a turmoil of fear and confusion, that it was almost too late when I remembered about my camouflage mutation.

I activated it, and felt the slight tremor in my skin that told me I was now virtually invisible. Only somebody who had inhumanly good eyesight, and who knew I was there, would be able to see me. I stood behind the pillar and breathed a sigh of relief as the two of them walked past me, completely unaware of my presence. But I knew I couldn't relax. They were on their way to look for Annie and me. I had to get upstairs and warn my sister! But how? I only knew of one way to get up there, and the Brotherhood were already using it!

I almost swore out loud as my camouflage dropped. I had real trouble maintaining my near-invisibility when I was scared or stressed – I was both right now – since it required concentration. I had to calm down, and re-activate it. I could only hope that nobody would see me in the meantime. It was a hope that lasted about three seconds.

"Hey! There's somebody there!"

They'd seen me. Stealth hadn't worked, and the only option left was to fight. I flexed my arms and held my muscles taut as the two of them – the teenage boy and girl –moved towards me. I tried to come up with some kind of plan for fighting them. What were their names? What had Pyro called them? Gemini and…Vertigo, that was it. What did that mean? What kind of powers did that suggest? I couldn't think of anything on the spot, and I decided just to throw caution to the wind and go in with both fists flying.

It wasn't a good idea. The boy dodged effortlessly, spinning 90 degrees on one foot to kick me in the ribs with the other. I stumbled, regained my balance, and moved in once more. This time I feinted a punch with my left fist, and sent my right fist flashing through the air towards his head. Or where his head had been, at any rate. Lightning-fast, he moved out of the way, and slammed a pile-driver of a blow into my chest, knocking the breath out of me. The girl hadn't even moved, confident that her compatriot wouldn't need her help to defeat me. She smirked and laughed as he got the better of me again, dodging my next attack and kicking me in the side.

It was the laugh that got to me. Of all the annoying things in the world, being laughed at by a girl was the one that I hated most. My anger rose, adrenaline pumping through my veins, as I entered my berserk state. Like a bull shown a red rag, I flew out of control, launching another devastating punch towards the boy. For once I was faster than him, and my fist hit him solidly in the chest, throwing him into the wall, stunning him. The girl's mouth opened in shock, and I turned on her. She backed away, still startled at what I had done to her friend.

Then she did something very strange. Clenching her fists, closing her eyes, holding every muscle taut, she screamed – and something very odd happened. Just as she relaxed, breathing hard from the exertion, another girl had appeared from nowhere beside her. The second girl's appearance was an exact likeness of the first, almost as if they were twins. Twins…Gemini…that explained where her name came from, at least. I didn't know exactly what she had done, but all that mattered right now was that there were two of them instead of one. Things were not going well. My adrenaline rush had dissipated, and I felt my body slow and weaken as I dropped out of my berserk state.

By this time Pyro and his silent companion had noticed what was going on, and both were hurrying towards us. Great. Things were _really_ not going well. The sensible option would be to run and find help, but I had never backed down from a fight, and common sense wasn't high on my list of priorities right now. I gave a scream of rage, more to reassure myself than to intimidate anyone, as I surged towards the Gemini twins. They acted as one, tensing to avoid my attack, but I was an unstoppable juggernaut, and I knocked both of them to the floor. One of them rolled over and aimed a vicious kick at my groin. I had never been more grateful for my inability to feel pain.

Grabbing the other twin, I lifted her bodily, and flung her to the side. She hit the wall, and before she could fall to the ground, her body disappeared into thin air. I didn't know what to make of that, but I could only assume that Gemini's power enabled to her summon a duplicate of herself. Right now I had other things to think about. The original Gemini was on her feet again, backing away from me, her earlier confidence gone. I glanced behind me. The boy – he had to be Vertigo – was still stunned, holding his head where he had hit the wall. Pyro and the other man – who was also not much older than my sister – were almost upon me.

"Come on!" I yelled, determined to show no fear.

The silent man opened his hand to reveal a throwing knife, which he hurled through the air towards me. Instinctively I ducked, and it hit the wall behind me, penetrating deep into the wooden panelling, the blade still quivering. Another knife appeared in his hand, and I had only one choice. Taking a deep breath, I called on the mutation that was in my lungs, as I used the power I had promised my parents I'd never use again. A huge jet of flame burst forth from my throat, searing through the air towards the knife-thrower. He tensed himself to leap to one side, but he knew he had no chance of avoiding it.

Pyro lifted his hand, and the fire deflected away from them, burning itself up in the air and disappearing. The man beside him raised the second knife, but Pyro said, "Wait. This is one of the ones we want. We don't want him dead."

The man nodded. His hand returned to his side, the knife vanishing to somewhere on his person, and I relaxed. But only slightly. Gemini had gone to stand beside Pyro, as he looked me up and down and said, "So you're a Rosiçky?"

"What's it to you?" I snapped.

He sounded amused as he said, "Everything. You are the key to everything I have planned. As long as I have you and your sister, your parents can't do anything to me."

"My parents could destroy you without even using any effort!"

"Perhaps. The point is, they won't dare to, if I have you in my 'care'. If you _are_ a Rosiçky."

"I am," I said proudly. "What are you? Apart from a _murderer_?!"

"Oh, righteous anger, I like that. Very impressive. They'll make an X-Man out of you yet."

I was going to reply with a choice selection of four letter words, when there came the sound of a door opening, and footsteps came hurrying towards us. I risked a glance in that direction, and saw the small man, Scarab, with two others behind him, a guy and a girl also in their late teens.

"Overlord, Cassandra," Pyro acknowledged them. "Success, I presume?"

"Naturally," said the guy. "What's going on here?"

"We found a Rosiçky without even having to look for him," Pyro grinned, indicating me with his hand. "Once we've got the other one, we can get out of here. Scarab, Recyclo, Gemini – go upstairs and find her. This one put up a pretty good fight, so call if you need backup. We'll be waiting down here."

"Leave my sister alone," I spat.

"Shut up, you," Gemini sneered. "Can't we just kill this one now?"

"_No_," said Pyro impatiently. "The plan won't work if we kill them. Now get on with it."

Gemini shrugged, and began to head for the staircase, followed by the hunchback, Scarab, and the silent knife-thrower – that had to be Recyclo. I had to find a way to stop them. I had to get up there and warn Annie. If she was still asleep, she would have no chance. Suddenly I knew what to do.

"'Bye, Pyro," I said, as I activated my camouflage.

My adrenaline and my conviction had given me the necessary concentration to do it, and as the seven Brotherhood members reacted in surprise, I was ploughing straight towards them, knocking Pyro and Cassandra to the floor. The others responded angrily, trying to guess where I was, aiming punches and kicks at thin air, and I dodged through all of them, running to the stairs. As I passed Gemini, I used all of my mutated strength to shove her to the side, knocking her into Recyclo and Scarab, sending the three of them sprawling on the ground. 

__

That ought to slow them down for a while, I told myself, as I fled up the stairs, but I knew they'd be after me within seconds. The only advantage I had was that I knew where Annie was. Sprinting up the next flight of stairs, to the second floor, I began yelling her name as I ran towards our room.

"ANNIE! WAKE UP! DOMINIC!"

I got to the room, and threw the door open. Dominic had awoken, and was looking at me through bleary eyes, "What?"

"Get out of bed; get dressed; we're in trouble!" I told him.

"Huh? Gary, what – ?"

"Just do it!"

I moved over to Annie's bed, and shook her hard. Her eyes snapped open and she stared up at me. I was about to tell her to get up, but she sensed my fear, read my mind, and knew the situation. Taking charge, Annie said, "We can't go out the front door, they'll stop us. Gary, push some things up against the door to block it. Dominic, get the windows open. We'll go out that way."

Dominic had just struggled into his clothes, and he pulled the window open, as I manhandled one of the beds in front of the door. It wouldn't keep the Brotherhood out for long, but it would have to be long enough. Annie woke Marina, and the two girls began to get dressed. Dominic and I had enough presence of mind to look the other way, and I threw on a pair of jeans while pushing a table in front of the door. They were outside now, and the door-handle turned, but the bed held the door closed. 

"Knock it down!" I heard Pyro's voice yelling.

A fist smashed clean through the wooden door – I could only guess whose it might be – as I pushed another item of furniture in front of the door.

"We're ready!" Annie said. "Let's go!"

Common sense finally took root in my thoughts, "Annie, we're two floors above the ground! We can't jump out of the window!"  
"Trust me!" she said. "Go! Now!"

She and Marina were already at the windows, ready to climb out. _This is madness_, I told myself, as I moved over towards another open window. Dominic was at the last. The door buckled, and the furniture began to give way.

"We've got them!" I heard Gemini's voice crowing.

"All right!" Annie yelled. "Jump!"

I closed my eyes, prayed, and jumped. Fully expecting to fall through the air to my death, or at least serious injury, I was slightly surprised when a whole second passed, and I wasn't dead. I opened my eyes, almost afraid to do so, unable to think why I hadn't hit the ground. For a moment I couldn't make sense of what I saw, then I understood. Annie had both arms outstretched, and was using her telekinetic power to lower the four of us safely to the ground. Of course. I should have known she wouldn't tell us to commit suicide. Glancing up, I could see faces peering down out of the window, faces twisted in anger, Pyro's among them. They would be down here and coming after us soon enough.

We touched down on the ground, and Annie said, "Run!"

"Wait a minute!" Dominic cried. "What about the other kids?"

Annie had read my mind; she knew everything I had heard Pyro saying, and she said, "They'll be OK. The Brotherhood aren't interested in them. They're only interested in us."

"Us? Why us?"

"Not you. Gary and me."

"All right, why you?"

"I'll explain later. We have to go!"

Like sprinters from the starting block, we hurried away from the school, never looking back, heading nowhere except away from our pursuers. Marina tripped over something in the near pitch darkness, stumbled, and fell on to her hands and knees. Annie helped her to her feet, but the younger girl screamed in pain, and couldn't even walk, let alone run. She must have twisted her ankle when she fell. There was nothing else for it; I grabbed Marina and lifted her over my shoulder. With my mutated strength I didn't even notice the extra weight, and we quickly caught up with Dominic.

"Where are we going?" he asked the obvious question.

"Into the forest," Annie panted. "They won't find us there, it's too big."

"Then what?"

"I don't know. We'll worry about that later."

I glanced behind me at the mansion, which grew further and further away as we ran, and could just make out the shapes of the Brotherhood running out of the front door. They were too far away to see us…weren't they? I increased my pace, and we reached the tree-line. After a couple of minutes fleeing through the trees, Annie stopped us, and turned back to face the school. With her telescopic eyesight, she looked back along the route we had just taken. Eventually she turned to us and said, "They're looking for us. None of them are close."

"So we're safe?" I asked.

"At the moment. We can't stay here for long."

I gently lowered Marina to the ground – she flashed me a grateful smile – and Annie knelt by the young girl's side. Marina's ankle was clearly giving her agony, but she gritted her teeth and bore it well. Annie placed her hands lightly on the injured leg, and used her healing power. Marina's ankle mended, and her face showed her relief at the cessation of the pain.

"What's going on?" Dominic demanded. "Where are the X-Men?"

"I don't know. They've been taken out," I said.

He gaped, "All of them? How?"

"I don't know," I repeated. "Annie – what are we going to do?"

"There's only one thing we can do," she said. "We can't defeat the Brotherhood alone…the X-Men have already tried and failed…we have to find Mum and Dad."

"But they're in Argentina! We're in New York!"

"I know. I didn't say it would be easy. I said it was our only choice."

"So what are you saying?" said Dominic. "We make our way to the airport – hard, considering I don't know where the nearest one is – and without money or passports, we somehow get on a plane to Argentina. Once there – it's not a small country, by the way – we find your parents. Simple as that, eh? I wish."

Annie shook her head, a thoughtful expression on her face, "No. We don't have to do that. It's risky, but…I think there's another way."


	6. Divided we Fall

Chapter Four: Divided we Fall

"They're still no nearer," said Annie, as she kept watch through the trees. "They've separated and they're searching the forest, looking for us. There are nine of them now."

"I only met seven," I said, leaning against a tree.

It had started raining a few minutes ago. The four of us were underneath the partial shelter of an overhanging willow tree. Marina sat on the ground in front of me, wet, scared and miserable, hugging her legs close to her, staring at the earthen ground. Her eyes were wide and she was trembling, looking as if she wished this was a nightmare she was going to wake up from any second, clearly terrified at the knowledge that it was all too real. Dominic was pacing back and forth restlessly, his fingers unconsciously twitching the cuffs of his gloves. I could tell he was desperate to do something to help the predicament, but couldn't think of any ideas. Annie looked calm and composed, as ever, as she stood in thought, trying to assess the situation.

"So what's this other plan you mentioned?" Dominic asked eventually.

"I was going to suggest I use Cerebro," said Annie.

"Use what?" I asked in confusion.

She explained, "It's a machine inside the school. Dad showed it to me. It amplifies telepathic power, and it should enable me to make contact with Dad – _if_ I can use it. It requires a level of power and control…a level I might not have reached yet. If I'm not powerful enough to use it, it could be extremely dangerous for me."

"What would happen to you?"

"In the worst case, it would either kill me, or I'd suffer irreparable brain damage. It's a risk, but one I'm willing to take."

I shook my head, "No way. I won't let you put yourself in that kind of danger."

Annie frowned, then said, "Dominic, what do you think?"

"I'm with you," he told her. "We have to get back to the school anyway, to find out what's happened to the X-Men. If they're still alive, but injured, we have to help them."

"That's true," I said. "But why don't we just fight the Brotherhood ourselves?"

"We can't," Annie said. "That's even more dangerous than using Cerebro. First, there are nine of them and four of us. Second, we don't know what powers they have."

"We know some of their powers. Pyro can control fire; Gemini can duplicate herself."

"What about the other seven?"

"I dunno. Look, you said they've split up, right? We sneak up on them and take them out one by one."

Dominic began nodding, "Yeah…he might have something there."

Annie sighed, went silent for a moment, then asked, "Marina, what do you think?"

The younger girl looked up, a little apprehensively. She tensed as the three of us turned to look at her, as if she thought we were going to start hurting her. She shook her head quickly, then buried her face in her arms, hiding herself from us.

"You don't want to talk?" Annie asked.

Still keeping her head down, Marina nodded. What was wrong with her, I wondered? Why wouldn't she speak to anyone? Why did she hide herself away so much? Had she always been like this? Was she mentally ill? Had she been – well, normal – once?

"OK, guys, listen," said Annie. "I do respect your opinions, I really do. But fighting the Brotherhood is _not_ a good idea. The X-Men couldn't do it. I think we should take heed of that."

"So we go back to the school and find out what happened to the X-Men," said Dominic. "Find out how they were defeated so easily. That'll give us some idea of how to fight these guys."

Annie closed her eyes for a moment, then she nodded, "All right, we're agreed that our first step is to go back to the school? Depending on what we find there, we'll decide on our next move. OK?"

Dominic and I nodded. Marina didn't seem to care, but Annie obviously didn't want her to feel left out. She knelt down and spoke quietly to the traumatised girl, "Marina, we're going back to the school, OK? The Brotherhood are still hunting for us. You don't have to come with us if you don't want to. The Brotherhood won't hurt you if they find you. It's only Gary and me they're after. You can stay here and be safe, if you want."

Marina looked up, started shaking her head, and opened her mouth hesitantly to speak. In a voice so soft and quiet it was almost a whisper, she said, "I want to stay with you."

They were the first words I'd ever heard her utter. I couldn't place her accent – Canadian, perhaps? Those few words seemed to have taken away whatever confidence she had mustered, as she hid her face in her arms again. Annie put a gentle hand on her shoulder, then put her other hand in Marina's, and helped her stand.

"Um – how's your ankle?" I asked her awkwardly.

She glanced at me, then looked away nervously. Annie squeezed her shoulder gently to reassure her, and Marina whispered softly, "It's fine……thanks."

"Let's go," said Dominic impatiently.

Annie said, "All right. Keep quiet. Follow me."

We walked in single file: Annie leading, Marina close behind her, Dominic next, with me bringing up the rear. I was constantly on the look-out for any of the Brotherhood who might be close. It was a needless exercise, since Annie's telepathy would warn us if any of them came near, but I did it nonetheless, just to be sure. It felt strange, to be making our way back to the place we had been so desperate to escape from a few minutes ago, but seemingly it was where our only hope of salvation lay. It was certainly something our enemies wouldn't be expecting us to do.

I wasn't sure what to make of the Brotherhood. I definitely wasn't afraid of them. I had never run away from a fight in my life, and I couldn't remember ever losing one. I had beaten Vertigo, got the better of Gemini, and I'd have destroyed Recyclo too if Pyro hadn't got in the way. I wasn't foolish enough to think that I could take all nine of them on single-handedly – though I considered myself to have done pretty well earlier – but I felt confident I could defeat any of those four. As for the others…I didn't know enough about them. Who else had there been? There was Scarab, the small guy with the hunchback…and those two who had arrived right at the end, Overlord and Cassandra. I knew nothing about them. Pyro had mentioned someone else too…someone called Mole. That made eight. Which meant there was a ninth, who we had yet to encounter.

Although Annie was determined to avoid fighting them, I was half-hoping we _would_ run into the Brotherhood. My mutations – which had been artificially created and implanted into my father – were designed for fighting, not for sneaking around or being nice to people. I had been given gifts to defend myself and those I cared for, and that was what I would do. Stealth, diplomacy, healing, politics…those were for people who were skilled in those areas. I was a fighter. Nothing more, nothing less. I had been born to fight for what I believed was right, and that was my intention. I cracked my knuckles and muttered to myself, "Come on then, Brotherhood. Let's see what you're _really_ made of."

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on which way I looked at it, Annie was leading us on a route that kept us as far away from our enemies as possible. Once or twice Annie told us to stop and wait – presumably we were in danger of going to close to one of them – then we proceeded. We got to the school without meeting anybody, and paused in the entrance, standing in the shadows.

"I've never seen this machine," I said. "Where is it?"

"It's downstairs," said Annie. "In the X-Men's base."

I frowned, "Dad never showed _me_ down there."

She merely shrugged, and pushed open the doors. We went inside, closing the doors behind us, and walked down the corridor, making our way to where I knew the elevator was. I had yet to go down into the base. I'd been curious to find out what was in there, but I'd never been invited to be shown around, and had never asked. I wasn't sure if I was allowed just to go down there myself, so I hadn't risked it. I respected people's privacy, and I didn't go where there might be things they wanted kept secret.

We were going down there now. Annie pushed the button to open the elevator doors, and we stepped inside. As the lift began its smooth descent to the underground levels, I said, "If this doesn't work…what do we do?"

"I don't know," Annie admitted. "We – I really don't know. I'm trying not to think about it. I'm hoping this will work. It's _got_ to work."

"Our only options would be to run or fight," I said. "Running's no good; we've got nowhere to run _to_. So I guess we'd have to fight."

Annie sighed and shook her head, but didn't say anything.

"Dominic?" I said.

"I'm with Gary," he agreed. "We'd have to plan it carefully, and make sure the Brotherhood couldn't outnumber us, but I think we could take them."

Annie was struggling to keep her patience. She said slowly, "Gary, don't you realise there are some fights you can't win? The Brotherhood want to find us. If we confront them, we're playing right into their hands."

"So what are you saying?" I demanded angrily. "We run away? We give up the fight before it's even begun? I'm sorry, but those are two things I've never done, and I never will!"

"Why don't you try thinking with your head instead of your testosterone?" she shouted. "You _can't_ meet every problem with your fists!"

"It's worked so far!" I snapped back. "Your problem is that you're just not willing to fight! You're always looking for the nice, peaceful, diplomatic solution! You don't get it, do you? Some people you can't bargain with!"

"And there are some people you can't fight against!" she yelled. "Can't you get that into your head? The Brotherhood are dangerous! It's not one of your stupid playground brawls! Why do you think Mum and Dad were so determined to bring us here, to keep us safe from them?!"

The elevator reached the underground floor with a slight jolt, forestalling any retorts I might have made. Annie and I were glaring daggers at each other, but we both stopped and looked away when the lift doors opened. Annie was first out of the lift, striding angrily down the corridor beyond. I watched her with contempt. At that moment I would happily have punched my sister in the face. Marina was following her like some pathetic little dog. Dominic put his hand on my arm, and I jerked round to fix him with a furious stare.

"Hey, cool it, mate," he said, raising his hands. "That's quite a temper you've got there."

I was still breathing hard, my anger still coursing through my veins, threatening to push me out of control, to send me into another wild, berserk frenzy. I turned away from him and walked after the girls. I turned the corner, expecting to see them up ahead of me, but they were standing still, facing the wall. I looked to see what had caught their attention.

"What the hell…" gasped Dominic, right behind me.

A hole, about the size of a person, had been torn through the thick metal wall, leading into a dark tunnel beyond.

"This must be how the Brotherhood got into the school," said Annie.

"But this is impossible!" Dominic exclaimed. "These walls are made of adamantium! It's _impossible_ to break through adamantium! It's indestructible!"

"Well, clearly it isn't," I said acidly.

Dominic pulled off his left glove, and held up his hand to the hole. The sunlight he had absorbed during the day, shone forth from his palm, illuminating the inside of the tunnel like a torch. The tunnel was narrow, and just tall enough for a person to walk erect; it turned off to the right about a hundred feet ahead.

"I wonder where it leads."

"Outside the school, of course."

"Maybe we can use it to escape."

I shrugged. Annie said, "We don't know what we're going to do next. Let me use Cerebro."

Earlier I had protested. I didn't want Annie to risk killing herself. Now I said nothing. I was still so angry that I didn't care what happened to her. I watched as she and her pathetic shadow walked further up the corridor, to where a huge, circular door blocked further passage. After a moment Dominic, overcome by curiosity, went after them. There was no point standing there alone, so I sighed impatiently and followed.

"How are you going to get the door open?" Dominic asked. "It won't open without a retinal scan from one of the senior X-Men."

"Don't worry, my Dad taught me how to do this," Annie replied.

She stood still for a moment, then moved her hand in front of the door. There came a slight hissing of released gas, and the door began to slide open. Annie walked inside.

"How did you do that?" he demanded.

"By combining two of my powers," she said. "There's a switch that can open this door from inside the Cerebro room, in case you get trapped inside by mistake. I looked through the door with my X-ray vision, and used my telekinesis to move the switch."

"Oh. Neat."

"My Dad's idea."

We had reached the end of the platform, and Annie knelt in front of the machine, taking the helmet device in both hands. Marina started, as if she were about to say something, then stopped, too nervous to speak. 

"Good luck," said Dominic.

"Thanks."

I stood a little back from the rest of them, and tried to be unimpressed. It wasn't easy. The sheer size of the huge, spherical room had fairly taken my breath away. I was tempted to yell something to see how loud the echoes were, but that wouldn't be a good idea. It might alert the Brotherhood to our presence if they were close enough.

"All right," Annie said. "Here goes."

She closed her eyes in concentration, and placed the helmet on her head. For a few moments it appeared that nothing had happened, and I thought the machine didn't work, or was broken. Then lines of pain and exertion began to appear on Annie's brow. She gave a gasp, and her breathing began to quicken. Marina looked at Dominic nervously. He had his attention centred on my sister. Annie began to shake a little, whispering under her breath, clearly struggling to deal with the power of the machine. Marina panicked, and made as if to pull the helmet from Annie's head, but Dominic gently restrained her. Annie began to emit little agonised gasps, and her face was screwed up in pain.

Then she screamed. It was a long, terrible sound, and I ran forward, pushing Dominic aside, to grab the helmet. All the anger and contempt I had felt for my sister vanished, as she slumped over in front of the machine, and lay still. The echoes of the scream were still reverberating around the room, and I knelt by Annie's side, cradling her head, frantically checking her neck for a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was there. She was alive.

"Is she all right?" asked Marina urgently.

I shook her, "Annie? Can you hear me?"

She made no response, and clearly wasn't conscious.

__

Oh, God, please let her be all right. I'm sorry about what I was thinking earlier. I don't want any harm to come to her!

"Annie? _Annie_!"

Nothing. Dominic and Marina were kneeling beside me.

"Is she all right?!" Marina repeated, beginning to sound hysterical.

"I don't know," I said.

Annie's eyes flickered open, and she gazed up at us weakly. Marina almost burst into tears with relief, and I gently stroked my sister's hair, "Hey. Welcome back. Are you OK?"

"I'm…fine…" she breathed, almost inaudible. "No…brain…damage. But…weak. Get me…away…from…here…"

Her eyes shut again as she lost consciousness. 

__

Thank you, God.

She was all right. The machine had weakened her terribly, but she was all right. I took charge of the situation, "All right, here's what we'll do. I'll carry Annie. Dominic, you know the layout of the estate. Go and work out where that tunnel leads."

He didn't respond.

"Dominic?"

"Sshh!" he hissed. "I'm trying to listen!"

"Listen to what?" I whispered.

"The elevator! It's coming down!"

Marina gasped in horror. I swore, "The Brotherhood must have heard Annie's scream."

For a moment I panicked, and couldn't think of what to do. We could flee up their tunnel, but they'd guess instantly that was where we had gone, and would run around to block the other side. There was only one thing to do.

"Take Annie," I said, thrusting her into Dominic's arms. "Get down that tunnel. Marina, go with him."

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'm going to hold them off."

"What? You can't! Gary – "

"I'll be OK. Just go!"

They hesitated, and I said impatiently, "_Go_! Get down that bloody tunnel! Or do I have to push you in there?"

Finally they went, Marina looking back at me adoringly, and I walked to face whoever was in the elevator. Clenching my fists, I stood and waited. It had just reached the underground floor, and the doors slid open to reveal a solitary figure inside.

Cassandra.

"I believe this is your floor," I snarled angrily, as I moved forward to deal with her.

She opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, then closed it again and took up a defensive posture. Normally I would never have dreamed of a hitting a girl, since they were generally smaller and weaker than I was, but there were exceptions. Cassandra was one. Gemini was another. I would definitely have enjoyed smacking Gemini in the mouth. Maybe I would get an opportunity later. For now, I had Cassandra to deal with.

I started strongly, trying to end the fight as quickly as I could, before she might use whatever unknown powers she had. I threw a devastating punch aimed at her head, but she was already moving to avoid it, and she kicked me in the side. It didn't hurt. I aimed another punch, which she ducked underneath, taking hold of my arm and trying to use my momentum to throw me into the wall. I was too strong, and she grunted with the exertion as I fought against her grip. I kicked at her with my left foot, but she twisted out of the way, dropped my arm, and launched a spinning kick at my face. I tried to dodge, and caught it on the shoulder. I felt nothing.

I feinted with my left, and aimed a right-fisted punch at her jaw. Cassandra dodged, keeping her balance superbly, and kicked me in the chest. I double over, gasping for breath, and she moved in, trying to press home her advantage. She kicked me in the groin, and lifted a knee to catch me in the face. I just about managed to avoid her, and lost my balance, falling on the floor, rolling over to get back to my feet.

It was a stand-off. She was so fast I couldn't hit her, and she wasn't strong enough to hurt me in any way. The longer I kept her occupied, the further away Annie and the others could get. I just hoped Cassandra didn't try to call in reinforcements. Hopefully her pride would force her to continue to deal with me alone. Whatever her mutant power was, she'd have to use it soon. I tried to work out what it might be. Cassandra…I had heard the name before…but where? Wasn't it from Greek mythology?

We exchanged another series of blows. She ducked, twisted and dodged out of the way of mine, but couldn't hurt me in any way. She was beginning to get frustrated. I was trying to remember…where had I heard the name Cassandra before? I feinted a punch, just to see what her response would be. Nothing. She hadn't even moved. Almost as if she had known in advance it would be a feint. Almost as if she had known in advance…then it hit me. It _was_ from Greek mythology: Cassandra was the woman given the power to see the future. I looked at my opponent. Did she have a similar power? Was that why she could dodge my attacks so easily? Could she predict exactly what I was going to do? It certainly made sense.

With this knowledge, or this assumption at least, I realised this wasn't going to be an ordinary straight-forward fist fight. I had to use a bit of cleverness if I was going to get the better of her. I could have used my flame-thrower attack, but if I was right, she would predict it and simply get out of the way. I had to do something unusual, something unexpected…something that she could do nothing about even if she _did_ predict it.

The answer I came up with was actually quite simple. I circled around her for a while, manoeuvring her until she was in a corner, then I threw caution to the wind, and bodily launched myself at her. She was ready but, as I had planned, there was no way for her to avoid me. She tensed herself, as I landed on top of her, crushing her to the ground. She struggled to get away, but I pinned her down and held her there, breathing hard after the exertion of the fight. Cassandra continued to squirm around, trying to break out of my grip, but she soon realised I was far too strong, and gave up, relaxing her muscles. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do next, but my thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing sound. Looking around in confusion, I realised it was coming from Cassandra; there was a communicator clipped to her belt. I grabbed it. There was a single button, marked **Transmit**/**Receive**. I punched it.

"Cassandra, this is Pyro," came his voice. "Report. Over."

Cassandra looked at me, and I looked back at her. I knew that if she reported she'd found us, they'd be all over the secret tunnel within seconds. If she didn't report back, Pyro would get suspicious. I switched off the communicator, handing it to her, and tried to sound as threatening as I could, "Tell him you've found nothing…or I'll kill you."

Her eyes widened slightly, and I knew she believed me. She switched the device to transmit, and spoke into it, "This is Cassandra. I've found nothing. False alarm. Over."

"Acknowledged. Keep searching. Over."

She dropped the communicator to the ground and continued to look up at me. I got my first good look at her. She looked younger than she was. I guessed her age was about fifteen or sixteen, but she looked about the same age as me. She was on her back on the ground, and I was holding her down tightly. I had never been in this position with a girl before. It made me feel odd in a way I had never felt before. The erotic connotations weren't lost on me, and I tried not to think about that. Cassandra _was_ attractive, but she was also one of my enemies.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked finally, breaking the silence between us.

I raised an eyebrow, "I thought you could see the future. Surely you already know."

Obviously I'd guessed right about her power, as she didn't try to contradict me. She lowered her eyes and said, "I can't see very far into the future. And I can't read your mind. Are you going to kill me?"

"I haven't decided yet," I said. "Suppose you answer some questions. I might be more inclined to let you live."

"What questions?"

"First of all, where are the X-Men? What have you done to them?"

She hesitated, clearly trying to evade the question. Eventually she said, "They're alive."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't let it show on my face, "So what did you do to them?"

"It was Overlord. He used his power. It wasn't me."

"What does his power do?" I asked impatiently.

"Why don't you find him and ask him?"

She was more defiant now, a complete change from the scared, submissive girl who'd been afraid I was going to kill her. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. What had brought about this change? Had she foreseen something? Something in the near future, that was going to work to her advantage? Was somebody coming to her aid?

The elevator was coming back down. I hadn't even heard it go up. Cassandra was smirking at me now, confident that somebody was coming to her rescue. I wrenched myself to my feet, pulling her up with me, and I put an arm around her throat, holding her tight, but not so tight she couldn't breathe.

"Let me…go…" she choked, struggling uselessly against my arm.

The lift doors slid silently open. Two people were inside the elevator. One of them I recognised – Gemini – the other I didn't. He was small, even smaller than Scarab, and his eyes blinked in the sudden light. There was something else – it took me a moment or two to pin it down exactly – there was a definite smell coming from him. It wasn't a pleasant one.

"Aw, you're giving Cassandra a cuddle, isn't that nice?" said Gemini.

I made no response. Cassandra, with her throat restricted, couldn't. Gemini gave me a sneering look, then closed her eyes, clenched her muscles tight, gave a gasp of pain, and her twin appeared beside her.

"I bet you're wondering which of us is the evil twin," said the original Gemini.

"It's both of us," said the second, with a smirk.

I backed away, trying to think of a plan of action. As I went, I stumbled slightly, and lost my balance. Cassandra had obviously foreseen it, as she twisted out my grasp, and ran to stand with her friends.

"Do him, Mole," said one of the Gemini twins.

The tiny man blinked myopically, but seemed to have no trouble detecting where I was. He moved forward, his fists clenched. I raised my eyebrows. If this pint-sized guy wanted a fist fight, that was fine by me. I held my fists in front of me, and moved forward to face him.

I wished I hadn't. Mole pulled back one arm, and smacked his fist straight into my jaw. It was like nothing I had ever felt before, like a thousand tons of weight slamming into me, throwing me clean down the corridor, to collide painfully with the wall. Blackness crept in at the side of my vision, and I struggled to stay conscious. Both of Gemini were laughing, the sound only serving to rile me, and increase my anger. Mole was advancing towards me. I looked around for some way of escape.

"Aw, does the big tough guy not want to fight any more?" Gemini mocked. "Good luck against Mole. He's got adamantium fists."

That explained a couple of things. Like why he could punch so hard. Also…the hole in the adamantium wall…the name Mole…was he responsible for the tunnel that had been dug into the X-Men's base? I decided to worry about that later. Mole was getting closer. I inhaled deeply, felt the tingling in my lungs, and breathed a red-hot stream of fire towards the tiny man. He crouched, raised his fists in front him, and his adamantium knuckles protected him from the flames. This was not going well. Both of Gemini were on the move, on either side of me, running to block off the passages that I might have used for escape. 

Mole threw another punch. I managed to dodge this one, and twisted around to the other side of him. Cassandra was behind me now; I glanced round to see if she was near enough to constitute a threat. I shouldn't have done so. As I turned back, all I could see was Mole's fist flying towards me once more. It crashed into my cheekbone, and I lost consciousness immediately.


	7. Lies and Truth

Chapter Five: Lies and Truth

When I woke, the first thing I became aware of was a headache that felt as if it was almost tearing my skull open. I opened my eyes on instinct, then screwed them up painfully against the sudden invasion of bright light. I rubbed a hand against my jaw; there was still a dull ache where I'd been punched. The rest of me felt stiff and sore, as if I'd been lying in an unnatural position for too long. I groaned slightly. I was so used to being immune to pain, that I struggled to deal with it when my power failed me. It was when I was tired, ill, or weak, that my mutant strength began to diminish.

My eyes had begun to adjust to the light, and I struggled into a sitting position. I was in a small room - mostly empty, though a few wooden boxes sat in the corner - but I had no idea where I might be. My mind ran over the events of the last few minutes that I could remember: the fight…Cassandra…Gemini…Mole…being knocked out…what had happened to the others? Annie and Dominic and Marina? Had they got to safety? Had I held off the Brotherhood for long enough? I had to make sure they were safe. I had to get out of here, and find them. Where had my enemies brought me? Slowly, painfully, I got to my feet, and looked for a way out. There was a single door, and it was closed. I walked over to try it.

The door was locked. A cough from outside told me there had to be somebody out there. There was a small window set in the door - this was where the light was coming from - and I peered through. A solitary figure sat on a chair outside, presumably guarding the room. It was one of the Brotherhood, but my tired and fogged brain couldn't recall his name. Vertigo. That was it. He was slouched in the seat, looking bored, tossing a juggling ball into the air and catching it with one hand. Presently he caught it on the back of his hand, let it roll along his arm, to his elbow, then flicked it back into the air, and it landed on the back of his hand once more. Sighing listlessly, he produced another two identical balls from somewhere on his person, and began juggling the three of them with one hand, keeping them in the air in a perfect cycle, seemingly effortlessly, his co-ordination never failing him.

He glanced up at the door, and saw me watching him through the window. His eyes widened slightly, and without looking he caught the three juggling balls in his hand, slipping them back into his pocket. With his other hand he grabbed a communicator clipped to his belt, and spoke into it. I could just about hear him through the door.

"He's conscious," I heard Vertigo saying. "I recommend you get down here."

The communicator buzzed as a reply came, but I couldn't make it out. I assumed that somebody was on the way to join him. I didn't know what they had planned for me, but I wasn't particularly keen to stay and find out. I tried the door again, but the lock held firm. Straining my arms, I pushed with all my strength, but I was still tired, having only just regained consciousness, and I couldn't force it open. I turned to look around the room, wondering if there was something I could use to pick the lock or break the door open. I moved over to the wooden crates, and was about to try and open one of them, when a key turned in the lock, and the door was pushed open. I spun round.

Pyro was first into the room. Recyclo, Gemini, Vertigo, Scarab and Cassandra were with him. I didn't even think about trying to fight six of them. I had to regain my strength first.

"Where am I?" I demanded.

"Shut up," was Gemini's instant response.

"Now, now, Gemini, you should be civil to our guest," said Pyro in a sarcastic way.

I was in no mood for jokes. I stood defiantly and repeated, "Where am I?"

"You're in my school for mutants," said Pyro.

I blinked, "What are you talking about? There's _another_ school for mutants?"

"Yes. Though most people don't know about it, this is America's second - and soon to be only - mutant school."

"I don't understand."

"You wouldn't," said Gemini.

Pyro explained, "You've probably been told that I was once a student at Xavier's School for the Gifted. I left, and when I became leader of the Brotherhood, I decided to found my _own_ school for our kind. You'll probably think I stole or ripped off the idea, but I don't care. I'm not too proud to admit it. Anyway, a few years ago I began looking for potential students - what you see now are those I decided were most promising."

With a wave of his hand, he indicated Gemini and the other teenage mutants who stood with him.

"You mean the ones without a shred of moral decency in them," I snapped. "Just like you."

Gemini reacted angrily, and began to move towards me, but Recyclo put out a hand to restrain her.

"So why did you attack our school?" I demanded. "What do you want with me and my sister?"

"Your parents and the other X-Men are determined to get in the way of our ideals," Pyro said, unconsciously flicking on his cigarette lighter. "You are my insurance policy that will stop them doing anything against us."

"Your _ideals_," I spat. "You're just cold-blooded murderers!"

He gave a laugh, "Yes, I can see you've been well taught by the X-Men. Their propaganda is pouring out of your mouth like nothing else. We are not murderers. We have never killed one of our own kind."

"Rubbish! You murdered the US President! You started that epidemic in South America! That must have killed thousands of people!"

"Yes. Humans. Sub-creatures."

"What?"

"Tell me, if a man kills an animal for food, is that classed as murder? If an animal dies because its habitat has been overtaken by humans, is that murder? Of course not. For centuries humans have callously killed off, and in some cases completely wiped out, other creatures, in their rise to becoming the dominant species on the planet. Now that time is at end. _We_ are the dominant species now. Humanity must make way for us, just as the dodo and so many others made way for them."

I retorted instantly, "Yeah, but - "

I stopped. I couldn't think of anything to say. Pyro continued, "You might say we should just let evolution take its natural course. One day all children will be born as we are, and there will be no humans left."

"So why don't you?"

"Because humans refuse to accept it. They fight against evolution. They think that by hating - and in many cases killing - mutants, they can prevent the inevitable. We have to fight back; we have to protect our own kind. We have no other choice."

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't think of an argument. I was speechless. Eventually I rallied, "All right then, why did you kill the President? He liked mutants, didn't he?"

"His feelings on the matter were irrelevant. _All _humans are our enemies. He was arguably the most powerful man in the world, and we eliminated him in order to show that all humans are inferior to us. No matter how safe or how strong they think they are, they are inferior to mutants, and we proved that."

I looked at him, and at the others. Gemini was smirking at me; Recyclo's face was as emotionless as always; Vertigo was once more idly rolling one of his juggling balls along the back of his hand; Scarab was watching me warily; and Cassandra eyed me with an odd sort of interest. Had I been wrong about them? I'd seen them as cold-blooded killers from the word go, but that was only what I had been told by others. Everyone said the Brotherhood were murderers, and Pyro hadn't denied any of the killing they had done, but still…the way he had described it…a part of me couldn't help listening to him. It _was_ true that we were the next stage of human evolution. It _was_ true that humans resented us, and were afraid of becoming…well, I guess extinct was the word. I realised I had never seen the facts from the Brotherhood's point of view. And what Pyro had said about propaganda…had my parents - and the X-Men - been lying to me? Had they painted the Brotherhood in an unfavourable, inaccurate light? Shapeshifter had told me that Pyro had once been his friend, and yet they were now enemies…it was starting to make some sense. Pyro was looking at me, waiting for a response.

"I…I dunno," I said hesitantly. "I guess you're making sense in principle, but…you're killing so many people. Don't you feel any remorse about what you're doing?"

He shrugged, "When you eat a hamburger, do you feel any remorse for the death of the cow that gave the meat? Think about it. Evolution will ensure that humans become extinct one day, no matter what we do. We're just speeding up the process, for the sake of protecting ourselves. We're not doing anything that wouldn't happen naturally."

Now I was really confused. Torn between what my parents had taught me, and by what I was now hearing, I couldn't decide which was right or which was wrong. Maybe they were both right in a way, or maybe they were both wrong. It was hopelessly confusing. Could my parents have lied to me? No. They wouldn't have. They couldn't have. Annie would have known.

Annie. My sister was the only person in this crazy and turbulent world who truly understood me. I wished she was here now, to help me and guide my thoughts. What would Annie have done in this situation? What would she have said? What about my parents? What about Cyclops and the other X-Men? What would they have said? Why did they oppose Pyro's ideals, anyway? There had to be some reason for it. They'd always taught me to use my powers to help others, never for my own selfish benefit. Why was that? Surely it was only common sense to make use of the gifts you were born with. Wasn't it? No. Not at the expense of the others. That was the one thing I had been taught more than any other. Those who were weaker than I was, who hadn't been born with any gifts to protect themselves…it was my duty to protect them. I knew now what I believed. My parents were right. The X-Men were right……weren't they?

I hadn't made any response, so Pyro went on, "I guess that brings me to the main point of this discussion. I've explained to you our ideals, and the reasons for what we've done. You might be wondering why I went to so much trouble, and I will tell you. We've all seen you fight, and seen what you're capable of, and we've decided we'd much rather fight with you than against you."

My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. Was he saying what I thought he was?

"Join us."

There it was. Two simple words; an offer that could change everything: my ideals, my friends, my entire life. I'd have been lying if I said I wasn't tempted. I agreed with a lot of what Pyro had said. In principle all of it sounded fine. But in practice…no. I couldn't agree with what they were doing. I shook my head and said, "No. Maybe some other time."

He shrugged, "Fair enough."

I frowned, "So…what now? Are you going to let me go?"

"Let you go? Of course not. Do you think I'm going to let you go back to your precious X-Men and tell them everything I've just told you, about the existence of this school? No. You won't be telling anybody else what you know."

Gemini gave a short laugh, but I wasn't paying attention. I looked Pyro in the eye, trying to sound as calm as I could, and asked, "So you're going to kill me?"

"No. I told you our mission is the protection of mutant life. Killing you would go against everything we believe in, and would gain us nothing. No…we have something else planned for you."

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

Pyro turned, "Gemini. Go and find Overlord. Tell him to come here."

She nodded, and left. 

"What are you going to do to me?" I demanded.

"Nothing permanent."

That seemed to be the only answer I was going to get. I tried to think fast. Whatever was going to happen, it must have something to do with Overlord. He was the one who had used his power to 'neutralise' the X-Men…or so Cassandra had told me. She'd also said they were still alive. What exactly had happened? What _was_ his power? I couldn't think, but I had no intention of waiting to find out. I had to escape. There were five of them blocking the only door, but there had to be a way out. My body was more or less recovered from earlier, and I felt my strength returning. Could I match five of them in a fight? I didn't know. Having Cassandra there would make things difficult. She'd foresee any escape attempt I tried to make, and so it would be impossible to take them by surprise.

Pyro obviously guessed my intention, as he gestured to Scarab and said, "Hold him. He'll try to escape."

The tiny hunchback crossed the room, and as he got closer I wondered about the possibility of seizing him and using him as a kind of living shield. Would it work? Before I could decide one way or the other, he had grabbed both of my arms with surprising strength, and was holding them behind me. I struggled and fought against him, tensing my muscles and trying to pull free, but I couldn't. Scarab was as strong, maybe even stronger, than I was. It made sense. A real scarab had strength enough to move an object several times its own size and weight, so presumably a Scarab was no different.

Gemini had returned, with Overlord in tow. He had his hands in his pockets and he glanced casually at me as he entered. I renewed my attempts to get away from Scarab, but he held me tightly and I couldn't move any nearer the door.

"I don't see why we can't just kill him," Gemini was complaining, sounding like a whining, spoilt child. "His parents wouldn't even know until it was too late."

"Yeah, and they'd kill us in revenge, idiot," Overlord said, rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Pyro, when do you want me to begin?"

"Any time."

"OK. Here goes."

He moved to stand in front of me, about six feet away, and once more I tried to escape. Scarab wouldn't let me move an inch. I began to panic a little. I wasn't afraid of the Brotherhood, but I was afraid of the unknown, and I didn't know what was about to happen to me. Whatever it was, it had subdued all eight of the X-Men. Did I have any chance of standing up to it? I looked closely at Overlord. He didn't seem to be carrying any weapons, and he was still standing in a half-slouched fashion, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, as if he were casually passing his time.

Then he opened his eyes a little wider, and looked directly at me. I found myself returning his gaze, unable to look away. It was almost as if my eyes were transfixed by his. Some power he had rendered me unable to look anywhere else but right back into his eyes. I felt uncomfortable. I felt powerless. I could do nothing but look right back at him. As I looked, his eyes began to glow slightly - or was I imagining that? His face seemed to grow, until his eyes filled all of my vision. There was nothing, nothing I could see, other than Overlord's eyes. Everything else had disappeared, faded into the background. My mind became fogged and confused. There was nothing here, or anywhere else, anywhere in the world…nothing but Overlord's eyes. This was weird. I couldn't move. I was struggling to think. All I could focus on was those intense, staring, glowing eyes. I felt myself slipping away inside. Whatever had happened to the X-Men, was happening to me too.

Somewhere inside of me, something fought back. Maybe it was part of my nature, maybe it was my instinct as a fighter, but somehow I managed to rally, and began to fight against him. I forced myself to think, to concentrate as hard as I could, to keep my consciousness secure. I flexed my muscles, trying desperately to make my body move. I tried to blink, to look away. An expression of surprise and irritation crossed Overlord's face as I began to resist him. I knew he couldn't keep his eyes open indefinitely. I knew he'd have to blink at some point. His power still held me fast, but I was growing stronger, and he was losing his hold on me.

He blinked. The invisible force holding my eyes and body was gone, and I lunged forward. Scarab had relaxed, thinking Overlord had conquered me, and I broke away from him, tackling the hypnotic mutant to the ground. Overlord struggled, but he had no strength to resist me. I drove a knee into his ribs, and scrambled to my feet, heading for the door. The rest of the Brotherhood, taken by surprise, only now began to react to my break for freedom.

"Get him!" somebody yelled.

One of Recyclo's throwing knives whizzed past me, and I increased my speed. Cassandra was blocking the doorway, obviously having foreseen this. I shoved her aside. The door yawned invitingly before me, and I sprinted through, knowing not where I went. Where was the nearest exit? I didn't have time to stop and think, and I randomly turned left down the corridor outside, the Brotherhood members spilling out of the room to follow close behind me. I tried to activate my camouflage, but I was too nervous and excited for it to work. There was a fork up ahead. I turned right. I had to get out. I had to escape, find my way back to the school - _our_ school - and find my sister.

"That was your fault, Cassandra!" I heard Gemini's voice yelling.

I chanced a glance behind me. Vertigo was the fastest of the group, with both of Gemini close behind him. Scarab and Recyclo were a little further behind. I wasn't looking where I was going, and I nearly ran straight into a door. Pushing it open, I ran into the room beyond. It looked like a dining room of some kind. Dammit! It was a dead end! No, wait - there was another door! I kicked it open and sprinted through. Now I was in another corridor. I pushed open the first door I came to, slamming it shut behind me. With any luck they might run past. Probably not. They had Cassandra with them.

This was a bedroom of some kind. From the décor I guessed it was a girl's, but I wasn't really paying much attention. What had caught my attention was the window letting in sunlight from the outside world. A way out at last! I hurried over to the window, and saw that I was at least one floor above the ground. I decided to take the chance, and jump it. The surface below was grass, which would make for a reasonably soft landing. I picked up the first thing my hands came to - a chair - and flung it through the window, shattering the glass, creating a hole big enough to leap through. Protecting my head with my hands, in case of jagged edges, I ran to the window, crouched slightly, and jumped.

The landing was a little harder than I had imagined, jarring me quite harshly, but there was no damage done, and I got to my feet to hurry across the grass. There was a path of sorts, leading somewhere, and I followed it blindly. Looking behind me, I saw Vertigo leaping out of the window as I had done, landing perfectly on both feet and running after me without breaking stride. Gemini stood at the window, looking down a little apprehensively; Scarab pushed her aside and jumped, landing hard on the ground but without injuring his small, compact form. There didn't appear to be anyone else close behind them. I just had to outrun the two of them until I could get to safety. I followed the path as it wound round a bit, hoping it would lead me away from their school and on to a main road, where I could try and find out where I was.

I took another look behind me. The diminutive Scarab was being left behind, but Vertigo was gaining on me, steadily closing the distance between us. When I felt he was too close for comfort, I took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of flame in his direction, hoping it would slow him down, force him to dodge. He jumped, turned a somersault in the air, passing over the jet of fire, landing on both feet and continuing to pursue me, without having lost a stride. This guy was amazing. I stumbled slightly, just about managed to keep my balance, and he was on me at once.

I'd got the better of him in our last fight, but I knew it wasn't going to be so easy this time. Now he knew exactly what I was capable of, and would be taking me more seriously. His intention was clearly to knock me unconscious as quickly and easily as possible. His first attack was a devastating spinning kick, launching himself through the air towards me, aiming for my head. I just managed to duck out of the way, and tried to retaliate with a punch to his mid-section. Like a wraith he flitted just out of my reach, twisting towards the ground. Placing two hands on the path, he kicked out with both feet, catching me on the shoulder. I was knocked back slightly, but I stayed on my feet, as he flipped back upright. For a moment we stood a few feet apart, sizing each other up. Whether by accident or by design, he had manoeuvred me around so that he now stood between me and my escape route. Scarab was still hurrying towards us.

There had to be some way out of this. I couldn't have got this far just to be caught once more. I had to find a way to get away from them. Anger began to overcome me, and I filled my lungs, breathing fire at Vertigo once more. He back-flipped away from me, landing gracefully just beyond the licking flames, which dissipated into the atmosphere.

"Make it easy on yourself," he said. "Nobody needs to get hurt. Just come quietly."

"I've got a better idea," I retorted. "Get out of the way and let me go."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

We came together once more, Vertigo cart-wheeling across the ground to kick me in the face. I didn't feel any pain, but there was blood running down from my lip, and I wiped it away with my hand. Scarab arrived on the scene at that moment, heading directly for me, trying to force me towards Vertigo. I tried to think of a way to outwit them and escape. With Scarab's strength, and Vertigo's acrobatic ninja skills, it wasn't going to be easy. I was still too tense and excited for my camouflage to work. I couldn't let myself be caught. I had to get back to the school and help my sister. Thoughts of Annie, of what might be happening to her, was what finally galvanised me into action. The Brotherhood were keeping me from my sister, and they might even be planning to harm her. That made me angry. I felt my adrenaline pumping through my veins, my fury rising, and I went berserk. Grabbing a startled Scarab, I lifted him clean off the ground, and flung him towards Vertigo. The ninja boy tried to get out of the way, but he was taken by surprise, and both of them sprawled on the floor. I began to hurry away from them, heading for safety. My berserk power increased my speed, and they could only watch as I disappeared into the distance.

I kept running, fuelled by my adrenaline, and before too long I hit the main road. I looked around for a sign-post or something that might give some indication of where I was. Spotting one in the distance, about a mile or so away, I began to jog towards it. I had calmed down enough now to activate my camouflage, so there was no danger of being spotted by the Brotherhood, if they were still coming after me. I knew that while berserk I had run fast enough to leave them some distance behind, so there was little chance of them continuing the pursuit. I knew they wouldn't have given up though. They'd be biding their time and waiting for another opportunity.

I got to the signpost. I didn't recognise any of the place names, but it seemed I was still in New York state. I knew not in which direction the school lay, and setting out in a random direction probably wasn't a good idea. I glanced at the sun above me - it was almost directly overhead, which meant it had to be about noon - but I didn't know the first thing about navigating using the sun, and besides, I didn't know where I was to start with. There were plenty of cars whizzing past on the road beside me, and I decided to stop somebody and ask for directions. I made the universal sign of the hitch-hiker: the single thumb sticking out.

It didn't seem to be a very effective strategy. Five or ten minutes went past, with no success. Then I realised why. I could have kicked myself. I was still camouflaged. Deactivating my body camouflage, I stuck out my thumb again and hoped for better results this time.

I was in luck. It only took about five minutes for a small red car to pull over and stop. The driver was a smiling young woman, probably in her early twenties, who pushed open the passenger door and said, "Are you lost? Jump in."

"Thanks."

I climbed into the front seat, and she pulled away from the kerb once more.

"Where you headed?" she asked.

"Um," I hesitated.

Where _was_ I going? I couldn't just say 'the school' as there had to be thousands of schools in this state. I could have said 'the mutant school' but that was meant to be a secret. She probably wouldn't have known about it anyway. What was our school called? I tried to remember. Pyro had said something…

"The School for the Gifted," I recalled. "Xavier's School for the Gifted, that's the one."

"The mutant school?"

I glanced apprehensively at her. She smiled, "Hey, relax. I haven't got anything against mutants. A mutant saved my life once. If you're one yourself, that's cool."

"Yeah…I am."

Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn't display any of the fear and hatred that I was used to seeing from humans. She said, "I'm headed down that way myself, as it happens. There's a town a mile or so away from the school, so I'll drop you off there."

"Right. Thanks."

"I'm Melody, by the way."

"Gary."

Melody was quite talkative, telling me about herself, her job, her opinions of mutants, but I wasn't really listening. She soon realised I wasn't in the mood to talk, and we travelled the rest of the way in silence. I must have dozed off at some point, as the next thing I knew Melody was shaking me awake and saying, "Hey. We're here."

"Huh?" I yawned.

"We're at the town where I promised to drop you off."

"Oh, right. Thanks."

"Take care now."

Half-awake, I got out of the car, and she drove off, giving me a little wave as she went. I tried to get my bearings. I'd never been here before, but I had seen the town from the air whilst in the jet, and I thought I knew the right way to go. If I got lost, there were plenty of people around to ask directions from.

That proved to be unnecessary. My navigation was successful, and I found myself approaching the school building ten minutes later. It was only now that I had arrived here, that I began to wonder what I was going to do next. I didn't have a clue where my sister was…I'd only come here as a starting point, since this was where I had last seen her. She could have been anywhere by now. I sighed, shrugged my shoulders, and headed for the front doors of the building. I'd begin by going down and searching that tunnel. If I was really lucky, they'd have found somewhere to hide, and would still be there.

As I entered the building, I panicked for a moment at the sound of people moving around upstairs. Then I relaxed. It would be the other kids in the school. They would have woken up as normal, and come downstairs expecting to have their meals and classes as normal. They must have soon discovered that the adults weren't around. I had to find them. I had to find out exactly what had happened to the X-Men. If it was the same thing that Overlord had done - _tried_ to do - to me, then I had to find a way to bring them back. It was difficult to describe what he had done. It was as if I had been going into some sort of trance. It was like having my body put into suspended animation. Pyro had said it was 'nothing permanent', so there had to be a way to pull people out of it. I had to find the adults and try to work out how to get them back. Once I had found Annie. My sister was my priority. I headed for the elevator.

I heard the sound of footsteps hurrying down stairs, and I was confronted at the bottom of the staircase by a small group of worried-looking children. The oldest was probably eleven or so. She looked at me, deciding I was somebody who was older, and who would know exactly what the problem was and how to fix it.

"What's going on?" she asked nervously. "Where are the adults?"

"I don't know," I said. "I was about to start looking for them."

She looked at me more closely, and asked, "Are you all right? You look like you've been hurt."

I touched my lip, where a bruise and a swelling were developing from Vertigo's blow, but I shook my head, "I'm OK. I don't feel pain. Have you seen my sister?"

"Who?"  
"Her name's Annie. She's a little older than me. She's got gold eyes."

The girl nodded, "Oh yeah, I know who you mean. Um…no, sorry, I haven't seen her since yesterday."

The other kids in the group shook their heads to indicate they hadn't seen Annie either.

"All right," I said. "Don't worry about it. Listen, why don't you gather together somewhere, in the dining room, OK? I don't know what's going to happen but you'll be safe in numbers. I'll find the adults."

"OK," the girl said, and the children hurried back upstairs.

As somebody who was older they automatically trusted me to know what to do. I really didn't know if I was doing the right thing. I had no experience with children; I just wanted them somewhere they would be safe, and wouldn't be getting in my way. Once they were gone, I continued on my way to the elevator. The trip down was as smooth and swift as always, and within two minutes I was standing in the underground level, in the X-Men's secret base. I moved over to where the tunnel was. Peering into the darkness, letting my eyes adjust to the hole's interior, I took my first step into the tunnel.

There was somebody there. In the darkness I couldn't make out who it was, but they were heading straight for me. Was it one of the Brotherhood, lying in wait? I hadn't seen all of them at their own school. Had one or two remained here? Mole hadn't been there - and the other one, the one we didn't know anything about. I backed away slightly, and took up a defensive position, as the vague shape in the blackness came closer. Whoever it was, they were small, and moving quickly. Was it Mole? I had to make sure to stay away from those adamantium fists if it _was_ him.

It wasn't. It was Marina.

"Oh, Gary!" she shrieked, as she threw herself into my arms. "Gary, I'm so scared! I'm so scared!"

She was sobbing, tears pouring down her cheeks, and was in danger of becoming hysterical. She put her arms around me and held me tightly, pressing her face into my chest, her tears dripping into my T-shirt. I was a little confused. I had no idea what to do with a crying girl. A little awkwardly, I put my arms around her, holding her gently. It seemed natural to try and reassure her, so I patted her on the back and murmured that it was going to be all right. I held her for a few minutes more, until her tears began to dry up, and her body began to tremble less violently. She got herself under control, and we broke apart.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

Her explosion of shock and emotion had subsided, and she now returned to being a terrified, traumatised girl locked within her shell. She avoided my eyes and whispered, "Yes."

"What happened? Where's Annie?"

Marina panicked. She tried to talk, but the words came out of her mouth jumbled up, and she wasn't making any sense at all. I put a hand lightly on her shoulder to try and calm her. She flinched slightly, as if expecting me to start hurting her, but then appeared to calm down a little.

"Take your time," I said. "Just tell me slowly what happened."

"All right," she whispered. "Um, I'm not a good talker, so - so please don't interrupt me until I'm done."

"OK. Go ahead."

"I'm trying to remember what - what happened. We were going down the tunnel, and - and Dominic was ahead of me, carrying Annie. It was really dark, and I couldn't see anything, and - and I was just following him, not thinking about anything but following him. We - um - got out, at the other end of the tunnel. I think it was in the forest somewhere, and it looked as if - as if Annie was about to start waking up. She - "

"Did she say anything?" I asked instantly. "Did she say whether she managed to contact my dad?"

Marina flinched, looking as if she was about to burst into tears again, and she gave me a pleading look, whispering almost silently, "Gary…please…don't interrupt. It's not easy for me to talk this much."

"Sorry, I forgot. Keep going."

"OK. Um - Annie was starting to wake up, and Dominic was - was trying to talk to her. He laid her down on the ground, and she tried to say something. I couldn't make it out. Then - then - "

She gulped and trembled. Whatever came next was clearly troubling her. I did what came naturally, and put my arms round her, holding her gently as before, reassuring her with my warmth and my presence. Marina calmed, and was able to continue, "At - at first I thought it was an earthquake. The ground around us started - started shaking, and - and we didn't know what was happening. Rocks and earth were being thrown up all over the p-place, and D-Dominic - "

She shook in my arms again, and I patted her lightly on the back, murmuring reassurances in her ear. She swallowed and went on, "I don't know what happened to him. I heard him cry out - like he'd been hit by something - and I tried to go over to - to help him. I couldn't find him or Annie, but there was - there was somebody else there. I don't know who. He was standing a little way away. He was causing the - the earthquake."

One of the Brotherhood? I was about to ask, when I remembered my promise not to interrupt. I stroked Marina's back gently, and she finished, "I - I looked around, but I still couldn't see them. Then something hit me on the head and I got knocked out. I - I woke up later, and came back down the tunnel. I've been hiding from - from whoever it was. I was too scared to go back out. I don't know where Dominic and Annie are. I've just been here, hiding, when - when you came."

It clearly hadn't been easy for her to say that much, and she trembled violently, trying to pull out of my arms, afraid that I might try to hurt her. I held her as gently as I could, patting her back reassuringly as before, murmuring sweet nothings into her ear, trying to calm her. Without knowing what I was doing, I gave her a little kiss on the forehead - as my mother had often done with me when I was small and scared. Marina jumped slightly, and she looked up fearfully into my eyes. I had never noticed her eyes before. They were green, like twin pools of some heavenly emerald liquid. For once she didn't flinch and look away. The two of us were staring into each other's eyes as if hypnotised. Although being hypnotised by Overlord had been a wholly unpleasant experience, I was not unhappy at being entranced in this way by Marina. Slowly, almost imperceptibly slowly, I found myself moving towards her. I did nothing to stop it, and neither did she. Marina's breath caught in her throat, as I moved my hands from her back to gently encircle her neck, and drew closer to her. Our lips touched, then stayed together.

I had no idea what I was doing. I _did _find Marina attractive, and she was only about a month younger than me. But I hardly knew her on a personal level, and this sudden irresistible urge to kiss her had come quite literally out of nowhere. For a moment she was soft, unresisting and submissive in my arms, but only for a moment. Then the spell was broken, and she began desperately struggling to get away. I didn't stop her, and Marina pulled out of my arms, breaking into a fresh flood of tears, and hurrying away from me. She stumbled, lost her balance, and fell into the corner. I walked over to help her to feet. She put her hands over her head and sobbed, "Please! Please don't hurt me!"

I kneeled down beside her, and whispered, "Marina, I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked up. Her hands slowly returned to her side. She looked away, "Why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But…but I can't help it if you're beautiful."

"I'm not beautiful."

"Yes you are. I'm sorry. If I do that again you can slap me. I promise. Come on, we've got to find out what's become of Annie."

She looked at me uncertainly for a long moment, then nodded, "OK."

We both stood, and I said, "So you don't know what happened to her?"

"No. She - she wasn't there when I woke up. The last time I saw her was - was just before the earthquake started happening. Um - "

There was something else, but she lacked the confidence to say it. I waited, knowing she couldn't be hurried if she was nervous. I held her hand in my own to reassure her, and this time she didn't flinch or jump in surprise. She accepted it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and her fingers curled around mine.

"It's - it's hard to explain," she said finally. "I have this image in my head, but I - I'm not sure if I really saw it, or if it was a dream."

"What's the image?"

"It's…it's…it's not a nice image," she managed to say. "It's men with guns."

"Who?"

"I - I don't know. J-just men wearing black and carrying machine guns. I don't know who they were. It - it's just an image in my head. I might have seen it just before I - before I got knocked out."

I frowned. Men with guns? That didn't tie in with anything I'd learned so far. Maybe Marina _had_ just dreamed it. When you were confused it was sometimes difficult to work out what had been real and what had been a dream. I didn't know, and I decided just to get on with trying to find my sister. I walked into the secret tunnel and Marina followed me. It was dark, and often the tunnel was not high enough for me to walk normally, which meant I bumped into the walls and roof quite a lot. I couldn't feel any pain, but it was still annoying, and my anger was beginning to rise by the time the tunnel began to lighten, indicating we were getting near the other end. I guessed we'd been walking for ten or twenty minutes, so the tunnel could be anything up to two miles long. It got brighter and began to rise higher. Before long we had reached the exit, and stepped out on to the earthy ground. I looked around to try and find out where we were.

We were surrounded by trees, so perhaps we were still in the forest that surrounded the estate. The area around us looked as if it had been hit by a bomb. Rocks had been flung all over the place, trees had been uprooted, and the earth itself seemed to have been chaotically altered, with huge craters and potholes all around. What had caused this? Had some kind of explosion occurred? My breath caught in my throat at the possibility of my sister being caught in the blast.

"Marina," I said, and she jumped slightly. "You said there was somebody here, a person causing something like an earthquake?"

She nodded.

"And it was them who did this?" I asked, gesturing at the ravaged landscape around us.

Another nod. I raised my eyebrows. This had to be the work of a mutant. A mutant with power over earth and stone? Well, it sounded reasonable enough. I already knew of mutants with control of fire, lightning and ice, the other primitive elements. Was this then the last of the Brotherhood, their ninth member who I had yet to encounter? Had he been waiting at the exit of the tunnel? What had happened to Annie? Had she been captured by the Brotherhood? I frowned. Pyro and the rest hadn't said anything to me that might suggest whether or not they had Annie, but it seemed likely. She had been barely conscious, and she and the others had run into this earth-controlling mutant. Marina had been knocked out, and now there was no trace of Dominic or my sister. Logically, the Brotherhood must have them.

There were two things wrong with that. First of all, why had they left Marina behind? Because they were only interested in Annie and me. All right, then why did they take Dominic? That didn't make any sense. Secondly, I was still worried by Marina's image of 'men with guns'. Maybe it had been a dream. Maybe it hadn't. For my sister's sake, I couldn't assume that it hadn't been real. But who had these men been? They couldn't have been working with the Brotherhood, since the Brotherhood hated humans, and only humans used guns. They must have been someone else entirely. But _who_?

I sighed. I didn't have a clue what was going on. I wished Annie was here. Or my parents. Or Shock or Shapeshifter, or any of the X-Men. I just wanted to have somebody older than me, somebody who knew what was happening and what to do. But I hadn't. I only had myself. Somehow I had to find my sister, find the X-Men, and contact my parents. As angry as I was, I was sensible enough to know that I couldn't fight this battle alone. But then, I realised I wasn't exactly alone. I looked at the girl beside me, as she shivered nervously and stood close to me, the fingers of her left hand brushing against mine.

"Marina?" I asked. "I don't know exactly how to say this, but…we may be in trouble, and we may have to rely solely on ourselves for a while. I have to ask you: what kind of powers do you have? What's your mutation?"

She looked away, and whispered sadly, "I don't want to talk about that."

"Why not?"

"Because it - it'll upset me."

"Is it something to do with your - your trauma?"

Marina nodded, and a tear began to form in her eye. I said awkwardly, "Look, I don't mean to push, but…it really is vital that I know what your mutation is. You may have to use it if we're going to find Annie and the rest. I'm sorry if it upsets you, but you _have_ to tell me. What's your power? What's upsetting you so badly?"

She kept her gaze focused on the ground in front of her, and for a long time she said nothing. Then she looked into my eyes, and spoke in a soft, shaking, sorrowful voice, "All right, I'll tell you. Annie said it might do me good to tell it somebody else. The thing that's upsetting me? I watched my entire family die before my eyes. I only survived because of my - my mutation..."

As Marina broke into a fresh bout of tears, I felt my mouth dropping open. I closed it, and looked at the ground in shame. Shame because I had forced her to talk about something that was clearly ripping her heart to shreds. I was not familiar with guilt, but it attacked me now, bringing a red flush to my cheeks, and I didn't trust myself to try and comfort Marina. She continued to sob quietly to herself, and I closed my eyes, as if this act could shut out the world and everything that was going wrong with my life. It didn't. There was no easy way out. I knew I had to do something to fix this mess, and the only person I could rely on was myself.


	8. Counter Strike

Chapter Six: Counter Strike

Marina and I looked at each other awkwardly, neither willing to break the uncomfortable silence, neither having the confidence to speak to the other. I didn't trust myself to talk to her. She was upset and scared, and I should have been reassuring her and acting as her protector. Instead, all I was succeeding in doing was upsetting her further. I knew Marina wasn't completely comfortable in my presence - my quick and hot temper combined with my destructive powers often frightened girls - but she was getting more used to me.

Finally I decided I had to say something, since she was clearly too shy to do so. I had to try and repair the broken bonds between us, knowing we would have to stick together and look out for each other if we were going to have any hope of getting through this. I didn't know what to say. Eventually I mumbled, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry I keep hurting you."

"You're not all that bad," she whispered, with her mouth twitching into the closest I had ever seen to a smile on her face. "I'll - I'll tell you about my mutation if you like. Annie said it would do me good to tell it to someone else."

I raised my eyebrows, "OK. If it doesn't upset you too badly."

"I - I think I've cried myself empty. I'm not really feeling anything right now. I'll tell you."

"Go ahead."

"OK. The reason my parents named me Marina is - is because my family have always been sea-loving people. Almost all of my relatives have been in the navy at - at some point. My sister is - _was_ - an Olympic swimmer. My parents met at - at a sailing club. Both of them owned their own boats and - and spent nearly all of their time in or on the water. My older brother and sister could swim before - before they could walk. You could almost say that the sea - or a love of it - is in my blood. Maybe that's - maybe that's why my mutation is to do with water."

She paused for breath, and went on, "I can do anything with water. I can sense it, move it, freeze it, evaporate it, swim in it, breathe in it.…"

"Breathe in it?"

"Yes. This – this is when I come to the painful part. Gary, I - I've never told this to anyone. Even Annie doesn't know the whole story. It's - it's not going to be easy for me to say this, so please…don't interrupt, don't ask questions until I'm done."

"I won't."

"All right. This – this is the story of the day I discovered my mutations: my older brother was in the navy and he - he had just received a promotion. To celebrate, my uncle took us - my whole family - out to sea on his new cruise boat. We - we had a special dinner on board, and afterwards I felt tired, so - so I went to bed. I was - I was the youngest one there, and the rest of them stayed up later. I fell asleep, so - so I don't know exactly what happened. Something must have - must have happened to the boat; when I woke up there was water flooding into - into my cabin. For a moment, I - I couldn't work out what was going on, then I - then I realised the boat had to be sinking. By - by this time my room was completely flooded, and I - I thought I was going to die. In desperation I - I tried to swim to the surface. In the passageway outside my room, I - I - I found my brother. He was - he was already dead. Drowned."

There were no more tears left in her, but she trembled and gasped as the horrifying memories came back to her. My instinct made me put my arms around her, letting her know I was there, trying to reassure her. Determined to get all of her ghouls out in the open at once, Marina ploughed on, "I - I felt like I was going to go crazy or something, but my survival instinct took over and I - and I just swam as fast as I could to get out. A little further along, I - I found my sister. She - she was d-drowned too. She must have been trying to open the - the hatch that led to the deck, but it wouldn't open. The - the water pressure was keeping it closed, I think."

I patted her back and kissed the top of her head lightly, trying to keep her calm. She continued, "I - I knew I wasn't strong enough to open it if she couldn't. There was no other way to get to the surface and - and the air in my lungs was almost used up. I - I thought I was going to die too. There was - there was nothing I could do. My air expired, and I - I knew I was dead. Some kind of instinct made me inhale, but of course I only inhaled water. At - at first I didn't understand what had happened, but suddenly there was air in my lungs again. I - I knew it was impossible to breathe in water, so I tried it again. And - and it worked. I didn't think at the time that it was - it was a mutation; I mean my mind was all over the place. I was only thinking of one thing: I had to get out. The water pressure was still keeping the hatch closed, but somehow - somehow I _knew_ I could open it. I - I can't remember too well what I did, but I must have used my power to control the water, and the hatch popped open. I – I swam up on deck and – and – sorry, just give me a moment…"

She gasped, took several deep breaths to get herself under control, and continued, "The – the rest of my family were there. They had all d-drowned too. They – they must still have been up on deck when it – it happened. I didn't know what to do. I – I just – I just swam for the surface, and - "

She stopped. Gently I prompted, "And?"

"Actually I - I can't remember what happened after that. I think the shock finally caught up with me and blanked my mind for a while. The next thing I remember is - is being brought here."

I frowned, "So – so what happened? Why did your boat sink? Was it bad weather or something?"

She looked at the ground, "I – I don't know. I never found out. I'm trying not to think about it. I – I can't think what it might have been. My uncle was – was a superb boatsman. He'd never been in any danger at sea before."

"How did you know to come here?"

"I didn't. Shock found out about me and she had me brought here. She grew up in the same town as I did, and she knew my family a little bit. She must have heard what happened to me and figured out that I was a mutant. She's my legal guardian now - she and Shapeshifter adopted me - and now I'm here. And that - that's the end of my story. Now you know - now you know why I am the way I am. I just feel like - like my heart's been torn out. Every time I close my eyes, I - I can see them, my brother and sister, and the rest of my family, dead, drowned…I don't know if I'll ever be the same again. But I'm getting better. Please - please just try to be patient with me."

"Marina…" I said softly. "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through. I always think I'm really strong with all my powers, but you're the really strong one. Keeping yourself going and living your life is more than I would be able to do in these circumstances. I'd have wasted away into nothing."

"That's what I _have_ done," she whispered unhappily. "Look at me. I'm just a pathetic shadow of the person I used to be. All I do is cry and sob and make people feel sorry for me. I'm just a waste of time and space."

"No you're not."

She nodded miserably, "Yes I am."

"No you're not. I'll prove it."

"How?"

"Like this."

In a flash I had my arms around her, and was pulling her towards me. On instinct her arms slid around me, holding me, and our lips came together in a passionate kiss. Just like before, only this time I knew what I was doing. I wanted to hold Marina, to kiss her, to love her, to protect her. Marina needed protection from the world, and I would give it to her. I knew she could love me in return and be my girlfriend - if she wanted to. 

I released her, and we stood slightly apart, again mesmerised by each other's eyes, the magic of the kiss still upon us. I dropped my arms to my sides and said a little ruefully, "I told you I wouldn't do that again. Now you can slap me if you want to."

"I don't want to. Gary, I - I need some time to sort myself out. Be patient with me. I need some time; I'm still all messed up. But - but I liked that. It made me feel - special. I - I don't want you to do it again without telling me, though. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"Sure. Um - shall we head back to the school?"

She nodded, and the two of us began to make our way back down the secret tunnel. I tried to decide what to do next. Finding the X-Men was probably the first thing to do - presumably they were still around the school somewhere. But even if I could find them, I still had to discover a way to pull them out of the hypnotic trances Overlord had apparently left them in. Nothing permanent. I repeated Pyro's words inside my head. There had to be a way to safely bring them back. Hopefully it would be simple enough. With their help I would be able to find Annie. If the Brotherhood had her, we'd have to overcome them and rescue her. I couldn't think of anywhere else she might be.

We took the elevator back up to the ground floor of the school, and were immediately accosted by a group of children. I'd forgotten that Marina and I were currently the oldest people around and had to be responsible for the kids. It was a little unnerving to think that two fourteen year olds - one volatile and one neurotic - were effectively in charge now. I gave my attention to the kids. They were led by the same eleven year old girl who'd spoken to me before.

"We've been looking for you everywhere!" she exclaimed. "Come quickly! We've found one of the adults! It's Mr Summers! But he's asleep or something and we can't wake him up! This way!"

The kids ran back up the stairs, beckoning us to follow. Marina and I exchanged glances, then hurried after them. They led us up to the first floor, and down the corridor that led to the adults' bedrooms. In the darkness at the end of the corridor lay an unmoving figure: Cyclops.

"Mr Summers!" the eleven year old girl exclaimed, kneeling by him, shaking his arm. "Wake up! Can you hear me?"

"He's not asleep," I told her. "Do you know what hypnosis is?"

"Yeah, of course I know what hypnosis is!"

"I think that's what's happened to him."

She frowned, "So how do we wake him up?"

"I don't know. I'll see what I can do. Look, you know your way around the school better than me. See if you can find the rest of them."

"OK."

The kids disappeared, leaving me with Marina and the unconscious Cyclops. She looked at me.

"I don't know what to do," I shrugged. "There's one of the Brotherhood who has hypnotic powers. He used them on all of the adults. He tried to use them on me too. I managed to resist him, and I escaped. I've no idea how to break his power over another, though."

Marina blinked, "There must be something we can do."

"I hope so."

There came the sound of footsteps, and the kids were back. They'd found someone else. This time they led us down to the ground floor, into the gymnasium. On the floor lay two unmoving bodies: Rogue and Iceman. Clearly they had fallen on the spot where they had faced Overlord. I hurried over to check on them. Iceman's pulse was slow but strong enough. I knew I daren't touch Rogue's skin, but I had to check that she was alive. I knelt beside her and leaned over carefully, putting my ear next to her face. I could feel her breathing. She was OK.

"How do we wake them up?" asked the young girl once more.

"I don't know," I said again.

I looked at Marina, and asked, "Any ideas?"

She frowned, her forehead knit in concentration. Then she said, "Hmm."

"What is it?"

"I can - I can sense the water inside their bodies - you know our bodies are about 70% water? There's water in our blood, and in their bodies it's hardly moving."

"So what are you saying?"

Marina was hesitant for a moment, then she built up the courage to speak, "If their blood is moving slowly, it means that - that their pulse rate is very slow. It - it must be because of the trances they're in. This might not work, but - but if I can manipulate the water inside their bodies, I - I might be able to make their pulses go faster, and stimulate their hearts. It might - it might wake them up."

"You think it'll work?"

"I - I don't know until I try."

"Will it harm them if it doesn't work?"

"No, it - it shouldn't do. Will - will I try it?"

I nodded, "Go ahead."

Marina closed her eyes and was obviously concentrating hard. She moved her arm slightly, her hand pointing towards Iceman. She gave a slight gasp of exertion, and I instinctively put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. For several seconds, nothing was happening. Marina was struggling with her power, and I was about to tell her to give up since it wasn't working. Then something happened. Iceman's hand twitched. His eyes jerked open. He looked up at me.

"Gary?" he muttered.

"You OK?" I asked.

"I - I think so. What happened?"

"That's…a long story."

He struggled into a sitting position, and his eyes widened when he saw Rogue lying motionless beside him.

"Marie?" he asked. "Are you all right? Marie?"

Being careful to touch only her clothes and not her skin, he shook her gently by the shoulder.

"She's been hypnotised," I told him. "The same thing happened to you and the rest of the X-Men. You're the first one we've awakened."

"How did you do it?" 

Gesturing towards Marina, I explained, "Marina used her mutation. I'll let her explain later how it works."

Iceman shook his head slightly to clear it, then he took charge of the situation.

"All right," he said. "Marina, can you do the same for Rogue, please? Then we'd better start looking for the rest. Do you know where any of them are?"

"We found Cyclops upstairs," I said. "I don't know about the others."

"We'll have to look for them."

While Marina knelt down to use her power to revive Rogue, Iceman looked at me and said, "So what happened? I don't remember much. There was a commotion of some kind from downstairs. Rogue and I came down to investigate. We heard noises coming from in here, and we were attacked the moment we entered the room. In the darkness I couldn't tell how many there were.I flicked the lights on, and……after that I can't remember anything."

"It was the Brotherhood," I said.

"The _Brotherhood_? Gary, what's going on?"

"It's a long story. Can I wait and explain it later, once you're all awake? Otherwise I'll be telling the same story to eight different people." 

"OK. We'd better start looking for the rest."

Marina's power had done its work again, and Rogue was conscious, though a little dizzy. Iceman knelt to face her, and put his hand on her shoulder. Still dazed, she reached out blindly, and through luck or instinct her hand shied away from his skin, and rested on his sleeve. Within a few moments, she had got herself together, and the two of them stood.

"We'll split up and search the mansion," Iceman said. "Gary, Marina, you two look upstairs. We'll check the ground floor."

I nodded, and left the gymnasium with Marina following me. We headed for the staircase, and I said to her, "You did really well in there."

"I did?"

"Yeah. I saw how much it hurt you to relive the memories when you told me about your mutation. I guess it isn't any easier when you have to use it."

Marina opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. She was silent for a few moments, then eventually said, "It - it wasn't really like that. I didn't think about the memories at all. It - it was just the right thing to do, and - and I did it. It just felt - well, natural. As if I had - I had done it a thousand times."

I nodded my acknowledgement. We were now back on the corridor outside the adults' bedrooms, where we had found Cyclops. He was still there, which wasn't too surprising. Marina crouched down beside him, and looked up at me as if waiting for my approval. I gave her a nod. She closed her eyes and her power went to work, as she manipulated the water inside Cyclops' body, forcing the blood in his veins to circulate faster, to resuscitate him.

It didn't seem to take quite so long this time. Maybe she had got the hang of what she was doing now. Cyclops sat up, his hand instinctively reaching up to his visor, and he focused on his surroundings.

"Marina? Gary?"

"Welcome back," I said.

"Where are the others?"

"Iceman and Rogue are downstairs. We're still looking for the rest."

"Are you two OK?"

We nodded. Cyclops paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then got to his feet and said, "Right. I'm heading down to the base. Once you find the others, tell them to join me there for an emergency meeting. We have to find out exactly what's going on. You two had better be there as well, to tell us what you know."

He hurried down the corridor and was gone. I felt a slight relief spreading through me, feeling as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders. The adults were back. I was glad to be able to hand the mantle of responsibility over to them once more. With luck, the worst of this crisis was over, and I could leave the rest in their hands. I couldn't face the Brotherhood alone, but they could. They could confront them and force them to release Annie and Dominic. Almost unconsciously I gave out a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be all right now.

We had to find the rest of the X-Men. I had no idea where they might be, but their rooms seemed as good a place as any to start looking. I hesitated slightly before pushing open the door of the bedroom nearest me. It didn't feel right to be going into one of the adults' rooms without asking. I valued my privacy, and I hated the idea of violating somebody else's by just walking into their room. I overrode this feeling by reminding myself that this search was essential. I opened the door. Marina followed me into the room. It was a man's bedroom, but I couldn't tell whose. There was nobody there. We left and tried the next.

In the next room I noticed several German books and magazines stacked neatly in the bookcase just inside the door. This had to be Nightcrawler's room. He wasn't in it. The third room was Shock's - I knew that because I had been there before, once, when she'd wanted to talk to me about something, I couldn't remember what - but it too was empty. It wasn't until we reached the fourth room that we found somebody: Shock and Shapeshifter, both face-down on the floor, clearly having been caught by surprise and been unable to get out of the room. Marina trembled slightly, and instinctively put her hand in mine, when she saw her foster parents lying motionless on the floor.

"They've been good to me," she whispered. "They - they know they'll never be able to replace my real parents, but - but still, they've been good to me."

"I had no idea they'd adopted you. I didn't even know they were married."

"They're not."

"But they love each other?"

"As friends," she said. "Just - just as friends. I don't - I don't think there's anything romantic between them."

She walked over to the bed, picked up one of the pillows, and knelt to place it underneath Shock's head. It was a useless thing to do, since Shock couldn't feel anything, but I knew Marina was only doing it to show her love and appreciation for her adoptive parent. I watched as she took the second pillow and did the same for Shapeshifter. She then knelt beside her foster father, and slid her hand inside his. It was the first time I had ever seen Marina smile.

I didn't say or do anything. I didn't want to disturb this small bubble of happiness in the middle of Marina's troubled and traumatic existence. She shut her eyes, began to concentrate, and used her power to resuscitate him. Shapeshifter groaned slightly, moved his arms, then opened his eyes. He saw Marina sitting on the floor beside him, and he sat upright, putting his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"Marina, you're safe," he breathed, sounding relieved. "Oh, thank God, you're safe."

She returned his hug, and for once she didn't look uncomfortable or ill-at-ease. She rested in the warm and protective cocoon of her foster father's arms, and temporarily let all of the fear and sadness flow out of her. Shapeshifter saw Shock's unmoving body, and looked over at me, "Gary? What happened?"

I had a feeling I was going to hear that question a lot today. I sighed and said, "I'll tell you later. Cyclops wants us all to meet him down in the base. I'll tell everyone then."

He raised his eyebrows, then turned his attention to Shock, "Felicity?"

"I'll wake her up," said Marina, her voice lacking its usual hesitation and nervous stammer.

She stretched out her hand towards Shock's body, and used her power once more. It didn't take long for her new mother to wake up. When she did, she too enveloped Marina in a loving embrace, relieved to see her safe. I was surprised to feel a tiny pang of jealousy within me. Where had that come from? Was I too longing for parental figures to hold on to, to turn to when in danger? Was I wishing that my mum and dad were here right now, to comfort me the same way Marina's were doing for her? Was that the jealousy I felt? No. That was a stupid and selfish thing to feel. Marina's family were all dead - she had seen them die - and mine were still alive and well…or at least, as far as I knew. I had no right to complain about my current situation, when I compared it to hers.

In between hugs, Marina told them that we were still looking for the three remaining X-Men. Shapeshifter said, "All right. We'll find them, don't worry. You'll have to use your power to wake them. We'll help you look."

He turned to me, "Gary, would you mind going downstairs to meet Cyclops and the others? We'll go with Marina. We - uh - we'd like some time alone with her."

"Sure. I, uh - "

I wanted to say something to express how I felt. I wanted to let him know how relieved I was, and how worried I still was about my sister. I wanted to say something to Marina, to let her know how well I thought she was handling her problems. I wanted to say how good it felt to see them together as a happy family. It was a bizarre turmoil of emotions, and I couldn't find any way to express it words. In the end I gave them a sort of grin, and left the room, heading for the stairs.

Stepping out of the elevator on to the underground level, I saw Cyclops ahead of me, and moved over towards him. He was standing by the entrance to the Brotherhood's tunnel, peering into its interior. He looked round as he heard me approach.

"Gary," he greeted me. "This tunnel…what happened here? This is impossible. These walls are made of adamantium. Do you know who made this hole?"

"Yeah. That's part of what I'm going to tell you. I thought I'd best wait till everyone is here."

"Yes. Have you found the others?"

"We found Shapeshifter and Shock. They're helping Marina look for the rest."

"Good. We'll wait for them in the conference room. This way."

I followed him a short distance down the corridor, turning the corner and into an oblong-shaped room, which contained a roughly circular metal table, with eleven or twelve metallic seats around it. There was some sort of machine in the corner, which incorporated a small computer screen and several control panels. Cyclops moved over and started using it, and, for want of anything else to do, I took a seat at the table. I stared at its metallic surface for a minute or two, allowing my thoughts to swirl around in my mind, hoping they would settle down and rid me of the clouds of confusion that fogged my brain.

I was still in two minds over what Pyro had told me. While I had decided that what he and his people were doing was wrong, it was clear to me that their way of thinking was not entirely mistaken. It was also clear that everything I had been told about them wasn't quite true. They weren't murderous psychopaths who killed for pleasure, which was more or less what I had been told. They had more in common with me - and other mutants - than I had ever realised. After all, they were just people, like myself or any other. They would have hopes and fears, ambitions and relationships, just like anybody else. It was all too easy just to think of them as mindless, psychotic killing machines.

I looked over at Cyclops. He was still working with the machine, whatever it was. What did he think of the Brotherhood? Did he think they were cold-blooded murderers? Or did he think they were simply mis-led? How much did he know about them? How much did _any_body know about them? I didn't know what to think. It was possible I knew more about them than anyone here. After all, I'd met all of them, except one. I knew fairly well what they were all capable of. I certainly knew far more about them than they would want the X-Men to find out.

It wasn't too long before the rest arrived. In ones or twos the X-Men entered the room, and finally Marina, walking between her parents, looking content and at peace. It was good to see her happy with life for once.

"OK, we're all here," said Cyclops, after everyone had taken a seat at the table. "I called this meeting because it's obvious that a new threat has arisen, one that endangers us and everybody else at the school. We have to find out as much as we can, and decide what to do about it. Now as I understand it, all eight of us were incapacitated by the intruders; however, Gary and Marina here were not. Gary, you first; I'd like you to tell us everything you know about this."

Feeling slightly nervous, I swallowed. I hated the way everyone turned to look at me. I had never been a good public speaker, and having people staring at me quickly eroded whatever confidence I was able to muster.

"OK," I began uncertainly. "Well, um…the people who attacked the school are the Brotherhood. They, um…they came here to kidnap me and my sister. They want us to hold to ransom to ensure that my parents - and you guys - can't do anything against them. We - uh, we managed to get away from them. We didn't really know what we should do, with you guys out of the picture, so Annie suggested we use this - this Cerebro machine, to try and contact my dad. I - I don't know whether she succeeded. The machine, it weakened her, and the Brotherhood were after us, so we split up. Annie went one way and I went the other. I kinda ran into some of the Brotherhood. They got hold of me, but I got away. I don't know where Annie is now. They must have her and Dominic. We've got to go and get them back!"

I looked round at the adults. They looked back at me. None of them was exactly leaping into action. I frowned. We couldn't afford any delay. The Brotherhood had Annie. We had to go and get her. It was as simple as that. I couldn't understand why we weren't already on our way.

"What do you know about the Brotherhood?" asked Cyclops. "How many of them are there?"

"Uh - nine," I said. "I - uh, I guess I've met nearly all of them. I know a bit about each."

"Go on."

"Well, first of all there's Pyro, their leader. But you probably know more about him than I do. The rest of them are about my age, maybe a little older. Uh, let me see…there's Gemini; as far as I can tell, her mutation lets her create a duplicate of her own body. I think she can control both simultaneously. The duplicate sort of – well, disappears – if it gets hurt. There's Vertigo; I think he's some kind of ninja or acrobat, he knows a lot of martial arts and gymnastic moves. I guess his mutation made his body flexible and agile, unless he's got some power I've not seen…"

I was more confident now, talking on a subject I knew about, to interested listeners. I went on, "Then there's Scarab; as the name suggests he's got incredible body strength. I don't know whether or not he's stronger than I am. There's Cassandra, who can see into the future and predict what's going to happen. Like for example, if you try to hit her, she'll predict it, and she'll dodge out of your way. Um, there's Mole, who has fists made of adamantium; I think he's the one who dug the tunnel into the base. He packs quite a punch as well, and seems to be able to use his fists to protect his body from my flame-breathing attack. There's Overlord; he's the hypnotic one, the one who - uh, who you guys met earlier. He hypnotises people with his eyes. I managed to resist him long enough that he had to blink, and his power dropped. Last of all there's some guy I've never met, but I think he has some sort of power over earth, the same way Pyro controls fire. Marina said she saw him start some kind of earthquake. I don't know his name. I think that's all of them."

Iceman shook his head, "That's eight. You said there were nine."

"Oh, yeah. Who have I forgotten? Oh - Recyclo. I don't know much about him. I don't know what his mutation is. I'm trying to think what the name Recyclo might mean, but I can't come up with anything. He doesn't seem to say anything. He uses throwing knives."

The adults began to look at each other, their eyes widening slightly. I realised I must have said something important, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I concluded, "That's all I know. Oh, apart from the fact that Pyro has set up his own mutant school. They're his students. And they admitted to starting the Plague and murdering your President."

I was about to add that Pyro had asked me to join the Brotherhood, but I kept it back. I wasn't too sure why. I just felt it wasn't a good thing to say. I didn't want the X-Men to know that I had indeed been tempted by Pyro's offer. I said uncertainly, "So – are we going to go and get Annie?"

"Do you know where she is?" Storm asked.

I hesitated, "Not really. But the Brotherhood must have her. There's no other explanation, right? And I know where they're based."

"How do you know the Brotherhood have her?"

"Marina told me," I said. "She and Annie and Dominic tried to escape down the tunnel that the Brotherhood dug into our base, and they ran into this earth-controlling guy. Marina got knocked out, and when she woke up they were gone."

I hadn't told them about the image Marina thought she had seen, of men wearing black and carrying guns. It didn't really seem important. It had to be just a dream, didn't it?

There was still nothing happening. I couldn't believe it. Trying to stay patient, I said again, "So, we're going to go and find my sister?"

A few people looked at Cyclops. He frowned slightly and said, "Gary, don't think you're the only one who's worried about Annie. We all are. But we _can't_ just go and start attacking the Brotherhood when we don't know for sure that they have her. We have to make our move carefully. Annie's safety is your priority, right?"

"Yeah," I said a little impatiently, wondering when we were going to get on with it.

"If we go in unprepared, there's a good chance she'll get hurt. We have to plan this carefully."

I stared at him, "And how long will that take? Look, she's in danger! We have to go _now_ before anything happens to her!"

"Gary, I know how you feel. No, I'm not just saying that, I really do. But think about it. What happens if we go in without a proper strategy, and the Brotherhood have a trap waiting for us? That doesn't help Annie."

My patience was at an end, and my temper finally snapped. I had been counting on being able to go and get my sister the moment the adults were back in action. My fear for my sister's safety was overwhelming me, and I was completely unwilling to accept any kind of delay. Angrily I snapped, "Well, you can take as long as you want! I'm going to go and help her right now!"

"On your own?"

"If I have to, yes!"

Shock, who was sitting next to me, put her hand on my arm, "Gary, you can't do that. You have to be patient. You can't face the Brotherhood alone."

I shrugged her off, and pushed my seat back, getting to my feet. My anger and impatience had gone out of control, and I retorted bitterly, "What would you know about it? So far I've done a better job of fighting them than all of you put together!"

"Gary…"  
I ignored her, and turned to head for the exit.

"Gary! Come back here!"

I looked at her and snapped, "You can't tell me what to do! You're not my mother! I'm going, with or without you guys!"

"I'm sorry, Gary," said Cyclops, shaking his head. "We can't let you do this."

"Try and stop me, then!"

I activated my camouflage, and each of them jumped slightly in surprise as I disappeared from view.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Wolverine said impatiently. "Somebody stop him."

I hurried to the exit and began running to the elevator. I heard the sound of chairs being pushed back and footsteps coming after me. I glanced behind me. Shapeshifter and Cyclops were the first two to leave the room.

"Where is he?" asked Shapeshifter, looking both ways.

"He could be anywhere. Don't worry. He can't get far. We can deactivate the elevator before he gets there."

I swore silently. So I couldn't use the elevator. That meant there was no way off this level…I was trapped! No matter how well I tried to hide myself, Wolverine would eventually sniff me out. Then something occurred to me. There _was_ another way to get out of here: Mole's tunnel.

Running along the corridor, I reached the tunnel, and ducked my head to hurry into its interior. Obviously the adults had forgotten about it. It wouldn't take them long to realise I had come this way, but hopefully I could be far enough ahead that they couldn't catch me. Stumbling over an uneven rock in the darkness, I cursed and almost lost my balance. Where had it all gone wrong? Why was I trying to escape from the very people who were supposed to be protectors, to go alone to try and rescue my sister? It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to hand over to the X-Men and let them fight the Brotherhood. I shrugged. It wasn't my fault that they'd rather sit and talk for a year and a day than actually get out there and try to find Annie. It just confirmed what I had always believed: when it really came down to it, the only person you could rely on was yourself. Now I had to rely on myself to outwit my enemies, find my sister, then everything would be all right.

I heard a shout behind me, "He's gone down the tunnel!"

For a moment I panicked, since the voice sounded frighteningly close. Then I relaxed. It was due to the tight confines of the tunnel that the sound was so loud from so far away. Another voice came, Shock's, sounding worried, "We've got to get him back! We can't let him go out there alone!"

The tone of her voice made me pause, just for a moment. I looked back. She sounded genuinely upset, genuinely concerned for my safety. Maybe I should just go back. I hated to think that she would be worrying about me. Then I heard Wolverine's voice, "Stupid kid! Doesn't he realise we're trying to help him?"

My anger returned. So I was a stupid kid, was I? They could worry all they liked. I knew what I was doing. I turned, and kept on running. I knew that once I exited the tunnel, there was no way they could find me. I'd head for the town and hitch another lift. I knew where the Brotherhood's school was, and the X-Men didn't. They'd have no way of finding me. That suited me just fine. If they were really that bothered about Annie and me, then they'd already have been on their way to go and help her. Adults were too cautious. They never simply went out and did things that needed to be done. They always had to sit and talk about it first. Maybe this would show them that when something needed done, you just did it yourself.

"I'm coming, Annie," I whispered to myself. "I'll be with you soon."


	9. The Real Enemy

Chapter Seven: The Real Enemy

I was being driven by my anger, and it wasn't until I was dropped off at the side of the road that led to the Brotherhood's school, that I realised I was going to have start thinking. I would have to think calmly and logically, and find some way to avoid my enemies while looking for my sister. As I remembered, their school wasn't that big a building; it shouldn't take me too long to search. It certainly wasn't anywhere near the size of our own. But still, I needed a plan that would enable me to stay out of the way of Pyro and his students.

The first thing was obvious. I had to use my camouflage. To do that I had to remain calm enough that I could keep my concentration. I also had to make sure I moved quietly. It was all too easy to forget that my camouflage, while making me virtually invisible, did not make me in any way inaudible. I had to think about the Brotherhood too, and whether or not they had any powers that would help them detect me. None of them were telepathic, as far as I knew. From fourteen years of living with Annie and Dad, I had learned that it was impossible to sneak up on a telepath. Their 'sixth sense' was even better than radar. Thankfully it wasn't an issue here.

My camouflage would keep them from seeing me. If I moved carefully enough, they wouldn't hear me. What about smell? I knew that part of Wolverine's mutation was an incredibly acute sense of smell. Would any of the Brotherhood have a similar gift? I tried to think. Mole, perhaps? Moles had a good sense of smell, didn't they? I reckoned they must have, since they couldn't see a thing. OK, I decided I'd better stay away from Mole. And Recyclo too. I still didn't know what his mutation was. It could well have been something that would enable him to track me down.

By this time I had reached the path that led from the main road to their school. This was probably a good time to start using my camouflage. I concentrated hard, and activated it. I felt the weird sort of rippling sensation as my body went chameleon, every cell of my skin and clothing changing to give the appearance of whatever lay behind it. Taking one or two deep breaths to prepare myself, I focused my mind and began running down the path. Actually I was running along the grass beside the path, as it would make less noise. I was still some distance from their school, so they probably weren't within hearing distance yet, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

A sudden noise overhead made me look up. There was a helicopter flying above me! I paused momentarily, to see which direction it was heading, and whether or not it represented a threat to me. It seemed to be flying in the direction of the Brotherhood's school, and it was descending rapidly. Was it theirs? Did Pyro have his own helicopter at his disposal? I knew nothing about choppers, but it looked like a military vehicle. There were chain-guns mounted on both sides, and what looked like a missile launcher mounted between the landing struts. Had they stolen it? I quickened my pace, determined to find out who was flying the helicopter. It was almost down to tree-level now, and was clearly landing at Pyro's school.

I could see the school now, as the path emerged from between the trees and into the open grassy space that surrounded the building. I wasn't sure what to make of it. It didn't really look like a school. It was like – well, in a way it was like a smaller version of our mansion. That was obviously where Pyro had got the idea. The helicopter was performing a vertical landing on the other side of the school, and a second or two later it was out of sight. I hurried to the front entrance of the school, and put my ear to the door. I couldn't hear anything, so I pushed it open a crack, and peered inside. There was nobody there, so I ducked inside, pulling the door closed behind me.

Now I was inside. I had to find Annie. Where would they be hiding her? It would have to be an exceptionally secure room, if it could hold my sister. Unless she was being kept sedated, or – the unthinkable possibility – that they had killed her. I shook my head. No. They wouldn't do that. Pyro wouldn't kill my sister. It was against his beliefs. She was a mutant. The Brotherhood didn't kill mutants. Or so he had said. Had he told the truth?

There was no way of knowing right now. I put my fears out of mind, and concentrated on finding my sister. It occurred to me that she probably _was_ being kept drugged – if she was awake, she would have sensed my presence, and would be trying to telepath to me. I had no idea where she might be, so I chose a direction at random. I was in some kind of entrance hall, which branched off to the left and right, with a set of double doors straight ahead. I went left. There was still no sign of the Brotherhood. With luck, they were busy. The left passageway took me to a set of stairs, which I climbed, slowly and carefully, lest any of them should creak and give me away. Looking around at the top of the stairs, a frown crossed my face. This looked familiar…but why? Of course. I had been before. This was the escape route I had taken to get away from here last time. At the time I hadn't known I would be so eager to return so soon.

OK, I knew where I was. I walked along a little bit until I found the room where they had incarcerated me. It was empty now. Where were they keeping my sister? I hoped I could find her soon. I wasn't sure my luck would last for long. Sooner or later I'd run into one of the Brotherhood, and the risk of detection would be that much greater. I couldn't let myself be found until I had rescued Annie. I couldn't fight my enemies alone, but with Annie at my side…I grinned. Together my sister and I would have more than a fighting chance. Even if we couldn't beat the Brotherhood, we'd be able to hold them off comfortably to allow ourselves to escape. Once I had found Annie, everything would be all right. I could bring her back to our school, and let the adults take over. Once Annie was safe I didn't care how long it took the X-Men to move against the Brotherhood. All I needed to do was find Annie, then our problems were over.

It was then that I heard the sound of a gunshot. Another sounded, then another. For a moment there was a silence, then a scream of pain ripped through the air. I stiffened with horror. The shots were coming from outside. Somebody had been shot. My anger and fear began to mushroom inside me. Was it Annie? Had she just been shot? Had the Brotherhood killed her? Had Pyro lied to me? No. It wasn't him. It couldn't be. I'd heard gunshots. Mutants didn't use guns. We didn't need them. Only humans used guns. But what did that mean? Why would humans be here, and who would they be shooting?

Determined to find out what was going on, I hurried back down the stairs, and to the exit. It wasn't until now that I noticed my camouflage had dropped. Somewhere along the line, my fear had disrupted my concentration, and I was no longer invisible. I tried to reactivate it, but I was still too nervous. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself, but to no avail. There were more gunshots, and another scream. They were coming from the other side of the building, from where I had seen the helicopter land. My curiosity piqued, I began to run round the side of the school, to find out what was happening. I turned the corner, and the sounds became louder. I heard footsteps running, people breathing heavily, and voices shouting.

"One down! Captain! One down!" came a man's voice.

"Roger, one mutant down! Scan the area! Use caution!" came another.

One mutant down? Had a mutant been shot? Who was it? Was it Annie? Was it Dominic? I hurried around the next corner of the building, and hastily crouched behind some bushes to see what was happening. My eyes widened and I watched in horror at what was unfolding before me. The military helicopter sat on a landing pad behind the school. A group of thirty or more humans, wearing black camouflage gear, and armed with automatic weapons, were patrolling the area around the chopper. I had no idea who they were, or what they were doing here. Two or three men were kneeling down not too far away from me, their attention centred on something that lay before them. I gasped when I saw what it was.

A body. A still, unmoving body. I couldn't see who it was. One of the humans was in the way. Presently one of the others turned and yelled to the rest, "This one's dead! Repeat, this mutant is dead!"

__

Dead?! Who _was_ it? Was it Annie? Was my sister lying there dead? In desperation I almost ran over to find out. Forcing myself to remain still, I kept under cover and continued to watch the humans. The three nearest me were talking together, and one of them grinned, "Good shooting, Hernandez. I thought you'd lost your opportunity, but you improvised pretty well."

The second man gave a laugh, "Yeah. One less mutant for the world to worry about."

"That ought to be worth something to the President's widow," said the third.

The President's widow? Was that why they were here? Had they found out that the Brotherhood were responsible for the President's death? Who were these people anyway? Were they from the US army? I tried to listen for anything else that might help me work out what was happening. Before the three men could say any more, there came a yell from beside the helicopter:

"Hostiles in the trees! Ten o'clock! One male and one female!"

"Acknowledged!" came another voice. "Engage them! Shoot to kill, repeat, shoot to kill!"

Shoot to kill? My fear, already threatening to overwhelm me, grew even further. Who was it that was in the trees? Who was about to be shot and killed? One male and one female…was it Annie and Dominic? If it was, I had to do something. I watched as the humans began to move away, hurrying over to the cover provided by their chopper, in preparation to begin attacking whoever was in the trees. The dead mutant was still lying on the ground by the school building, forgotten by the humans. I took my opportunity to run over, hoping and praying that it wasn't Annie.

It wasn't. It was Overlord. The hypnotic mutant lay on his back, his eyes open and staring up at the sky, three bullet holes and a pool of spreading blood around his chest area. I almost wept with relief. It wasn't Annie. It wasn't Dominic. It wasn't my sister or my friend. It was…it was…my enemy. Overlord, one of my enemies, was dead. I should have been pleased, or at least relieved that he couldn't threaten me any more. I wasn't. I was angry, furiously angry, my rage bursting throughout my bloodstream, threatening to send me berserk.

A human had killed a mutant. It didn't matter that he was my enemy, or that the Brotherhood were trying to kill humans. None of that mattered. All that mattered was that one of my kind had been killed by a human, and others were in danger of suffering the same fate. I had to do something. If the Brotherhood were killed, I might never know where Annie was. I was going to help them.

"Hostile!"

That was the only warning I had, before a bullet smacked into the wall just above my head. _Damn_ it! They'd spotted me. Standing beside Overlord's dead body, I wasn't exactly inconspicuous. I had to get under cover. There had to be somewhere to hide. Time seemed to move in slow motion, as I flung myself to one side to avoid the next hail of incoming bullets. Rolling over and getting to my feet, I sprinted away as fast as I could, looking for cover. There! A door, leading back inside the building! Pushing it open, I dived inside, and more bullets thudded into the wall where I had just been standing. I kicked the door shut behind me, and looked for something to wedge it shut. There wasn't anything. I got to my feet and hurried into the school's interior, looking for somewhere to hide. Shoving open the first door I came to, I hurried through, and to my horror, came face to face with another.

It wasn't a human. It was Cassandra.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she gasped.

She was backing away, her hands in front of her in a defensive position, looking for a way to escape. There was only the one door, and I was standing in front of it.

"Where's my sister?" I demanded.

"What? I don't know!"

I heard the sound of gunfire from outside, and Cassandra gave another gasp.

"Let me out!" she cried. "The school's under attack! I've got to help my friends!"

There was a crashing sound as the humans broke through the door that led into the building. Within seconds they'd find us. My survival instinct took over, and without knowing what I was doing, I grabbed Cassandra and we hurried through the door into the corridor outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the humans, three or four of them, reacting in surprise, bringing their weapons up to bear on us. I inhaled deeply and a huge jet of flame burst from my throat, scorching through the air towards the men. I didn't wait to see what happened. Still gripping Cassandra by the arm, I pulled her through the next doorway I saw, leading into another corridor. From behind me came screams, and I guessed at least one of the men had been set on fire.

"Let me go!" Cassandra screamed. "I've got to help my friends! Please!"

"Where are they?"

She struggled to get away from me, "They'll be in the woods, heading for the escape helicopter! _Please_ let me go!"

"Tell me where my sister is."

"I told you, I _don't know_! Will you _let me go_?!" she shrieked.

"On one condition. I'm coming with you!"

"What, _you_?"

"Do you think I want to stay around here and get killed for being a mutant? If you've got an escape chopper, I'm on it."

"I can't promise anything. You'll have to ask Pyro."

"Fine. Let's find him."

"This way!"

I released her arm, and we hurried along the corridor, through the next doorway, and Cassandra put out a hand to stop me, "Wait here a second. There's a secret exit from the school!"

Set in the wall by our heads was a light fitting. Cassandra smashed its glass covering, and inside I could see a tiny microphone. She spoke into it, "Cassandra."

There must have been some kind of voice recognition system, as a section of the wall in front of us began to move to one side, revealing a passageway beyond. Cassandra ducked inside, and beckoned me to follow. A little hesitantly, I stepped into the darkness, and she pulled the opening shut behind us. The two of us stopped for a moment to get our breath back.

"We're safe in here," she said. "It won't open without a valid voice signature."

We moved off once more, heading down a low, dark corridor. I could hardly see a thing, but Cassandra seemed to know where she was going.

"What _is_ this place?" I asked.

"I'll ask the questions," Cassandra snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for my sister, of course."

"Well, look someplace else. We haven't got her!"

I looked at her, "You're lying. I saved your life back there, you know that? The least you could do is be honest with me."

She opened her mouth to make a biting retort, then stopped. Cassandra looked away and said hesitantly, "You did save my life, I guess. I – I – uh – listen, whatever your name is, I am grateful. I don't know why you saved my life, but I'm grateful. Thank you."

"I did what I would do for any mutant in danger of being killed by a human."

"Yeah, well maybe now you see that we're right. Humans are killing mutants all the time, for no reason other than they hate us."

"I don't have time to debate that. Where is my sister?"

"I don't know. I swear, I don't know. Ask Pyro. He might know."

"OK. Where is he?"

"He'll be heading for the chopper. It's not far now."

We were running down the passageway for a minute or so longer, then it abruptly stopped in front of us. I looked up; there was a trapdoor over our heads. Cassandra pushed it open, and gripped its rim to pull herself up and out. I followed, and she instinctively stretched out her hand to help me out.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"In the forest. The chopper's that way!"

"I can hear gunfire!"

"My friends must be in trouble. I'm going to help them!"

She set off at a run, in the direction of the sounds of battle. I hurried after her, still uncertain whether or not she was telling the truth about Annie. If my sister was being held inside the school somewhere, there was no question that I was going back to find her. It didn't matter that there were two dozen heavily armed men between me and her. I'd get through somehow.

The sounds of guns were closer now, and suddenly we were there, at the periphery of the forest. I ducked down behind a tree, and looked around to get an idea of the situation. I could see Pyro, kneeling behind a rock, keeping his head to avoid the incoming bullets, igniting his cigarette lighter and sending a jet of fire in the direction of the humans. There was a momentary lapse in gunfire, and Pyro took the opportunity to have a quick glance round, checking on the status of his students. I had a look around too. Vertigo and Scarab were crouched behind a tree; being short-range attackers, they were hopelessly vulnerable. Near them was a face I didn't recognise – that had to be the earth mutant. Gemini, Mole and Recyclo were standing at the edge of the trees, trying to create a defensive shield of sorts. Mole was using his fists to protect himself from the gunfire, and Recyclo had some kind of metallic plate he was holding in front of himself, deflecting the bullets away from him. As I watched, a bullet hit Gemini in the chest, and her body vanished. For a moment I was confused, then I realised. That wasn't the real Gemini. She had summoned her twin, and had been using it as a decoy. Cassandra hurried over towards Pyro, and knelt down beside him. I couldn't hear much over the gunfire, but she was saying something. She gestured with her hand towards me, and Pyro looked round, his eyes widening in confusion and surprise when he saw me. I held up my hands to indicate I wasn't going to try and attack him, and he nodded, beckoning me over. Keeping low, I ran over towards him.

"Are you all right?" was his first question.

I looked at him strangely. Why did he care? He wasn't my dad. I shrugged, "Fine. You?"

"We're unhurt so far, but we've lost contact with Overlord. You haven't seen him, have you?"

Cassandra shook her head. I hesitated, then said, "Overlord's dead. They shot him."

"No."

"I'm afraid so."

Pyro's eyes narrowed, and I didn't have to be a telepath to sense the anger rising in his soul. I tensed, thinking for a moment that he was going to lash out at me, but his anger was directed elsewhere.

"Overlord was sixteen years old!" Pyro yelled. "He was a child! They murdered a child! _My_ child!"

I blinked, "Overlord was your son?" 

"No. Well, in a way. I'll explain later."

"What are we going to do?" Cassandra asked.

Pyro was still looking angry, but he sighed, "It's too dangerous to keep fighting. As much as I want to kill them, I'm not going to risk losing anyone else. We'll begin moving back towards the helicopter."

"I'll tell the others," she said.

"Right. Get Vertigo and Scarab to go first. They'll need our protection. Then you, Gemini and Mole make a run for it. Tell Recyclo and Atlas to join up with me. We'll hit the humans hard, once, to keep them off balance, then we'll run. You," he faced me. "Go with Cassandra and the rest."

I nodded. I instinctively trusted Pyro to know what he was doing, and to have my best interests at heart. He was an adult. I was a child. It was only natural for me to believe him. Besides, if he wanted to kill me at this moment, he could do it easily enough. Cassandra was hurrying over to the rest of the Brotherhood, passing on Pyro's instructions. For a moment I panicked at the thought that she might get hit by a bullet, but I knew she could foresee all of the bullets and dodge them accordingly. Then I frowned. Why was I so worried for Cassandra's safety? She was my enemy, wasn't she? All right, we were on the same side at the moment, but we didn't particularly care for each other. Or did we? Why had Pyro's first instinct been to check that I hadn't been hurt? He was my enemy, and I his. Why did he care whether or not I was hurt? I didn't know. I'd seen how angry he was when I'd told him about Overlord's death, and I saw the way he was constantly looking around to make sure the others were OK. He cared about them. He was like a father figure to them. He wasn't a psychotic killer. He cared about his students, and he cared about me. He was an adult, and I was a child. It was only natural for him to worry about my safety.

Vertigo and Scarab were on the move, ducking as low as they could, hurrying down the path back in the direction Cassandra and I had just come. I saw the earth mutant – Atlas – moving forward towards Pyro, as Mole and Gemini began to pull back. Cassandra tapped me on the arm, and indicated that I should follow her. For a moment I hesitated, reluctant to run from the scene of the fight, but Pyro gave me a gentle nudge in Cassandra's direction, and I listened to my common sense, as the two of us began to hurry after Gemini.

"Look out!" Cassandra yelled, suddenly grabbing me around the waist and pushing me to the ground.

A moment later, a hail of bullets whistled overhead, just where we'd been standing, and I gasped, "Thanks!"

We jumped to our feet and kept on running. I glanced behind me to see what was happening. Recyclo had a throwing knife in each hand, and as I watched he flung them, skewering the throats of two humans. Pyro was launching a blast of fire at another group of men, setting several of them alight; frantically they rolled around on the grass to try and put out the flames. Atlas had both arms raised and was using his power to shake the very ground the men stood upon. Several lost their balance, and Atlas spread his fingers, pushing the earth apart, gouging cracks in its surface, which the men struggled desperately to avoid falling into.

For a moment I wondered why the three of them didn't simply kill all of the humans this way. Then I saw that the remainder of the men were running towards their helicopter. That explained it. Atlas could do nothing against an airborne enemy, and Recyclo's knives could not harm a military class chopper. They were merely buying time to get away. We had to get to our own helicopter before the humans could get theirs in the air.

"Let's go!" Pyro yelled, and the three of them turned to hurry after us.

Wait a minute. What had I just been thinking? 'Our' own helicopter? I wasn't one of the Brotherhood. I was only fighting alongside them because I had no other choice. Cassandra had her hand on my arm, telling me I was going too slowly, and I increased my pace to keep up with Gemini and Mole ahead.

We broke through into a clearing, where the helicopter sat on a small pad, its rotors already turning, Vertigo sitting at the controls, watching our approach through the windows. Scarab threw open the door, and Mole and Gemini climbed up into the aircraft. Without thinking, I did the same, and Cassandra jumped up after me. Atlas, Recyclo and Pyro were right behind us, and Pyro, the last one on board, pulled the door shut, "Right, we're all in! Take off!"

"Wait a minute, Overlord's not here!" somebody said.

"He won't be coming," said Pyro. "Take off! Now!"

Vertigo hit the controls, and the helicopter ascended from the ground. I found myself sitting in a seat, and I sank back into it, letting myself relax for the first time in what seemed like days. We had escaped. In my attempt to find my sister, I'd walked into the middle of a raging battle, and had only just got away alive. However, I was still no nearer to my objective. I still had to find Annie. I was about to ask Pyro if he knew where she was, when I noticed that several, if not all, of the Brotherhood members were looking directly at me.

"Wait a minute, what's _he_ doing here?" Gemini demanded. "When the hell did _he_ get on board?"

"When I did," said Cassandra.

"I thought that was Overlord!"

Pyro shook his head, "Overlord's dead."

"_What_?" came several voices.

Gemini gave a cry of fury and pointed a finger at me, "He killed him! I know he did! _Murderer_!"

She launched herself across the chopper's interior at me, her rage blinding her, putting her hands around my neck as if she was trying to choke the very life out of me.

"Gemini! Stop it!" Pyro snapped.

"He killed him! He killed Overlord!" she cried.

"I didn't!" I snapped. "The humans shot him!"

Gemini refused to listen, and her grip tightened, as she continued to try and choke me. I pushed her away from me, and she fell backwards into an empty seat. I stood, my fists clenched, my anger flowing, and all of them tensed, ready to do battle. Gemini had her muscles taut, and was ready to summon her twin. Scarab and Mole both had their fists raised. Cassandra had backed away from me a little, in case I tried to attack her. A throwing knife appeared in Recyclo's hand as if by magic – just how many did he _have_? Atlas, more or less deprived of his power while airborne, was looking uncomfortable. The only ones who did not react were Vertigo, who was piloting the helicopter, and Pyro, who deliberately flicked off his lighter, and said, "I think you should explain what you're doing here."

I snapped, "I came here looking for my sister. I know you've got her somewhere! Where is she?"

"We don't have her," said Cassandra. "I told you."

"Pyro?" I asked.

He shook his head, "She's telling the truth. We don't have your sister."

"You're lying!" I spat, then pointed at Atlas. "He attacked her!"

Pyro looked at Atlas. The earth mutant shrugged, then said, "I already told you what happened, Pyro. I was waiting at the tunnel exit, when she – this guy's sister – and two others came out. The girl was unconscious, so I reckoned it'd be an easy take. I went in to grab her, when humans showed up."

"Humans?" I said suspiciously.

"Yeah. Soldiers of some kind. Probably the same guys we were fighting just now. They saw me first, and tried to gun me down. So, I had to use my power to defend myself. They started firing at me and I had to take cover. I saw them take the girl, and of the others. They left the other one behind. They took them alive, though."

Alive.

"My sister's alive?" I gasped.

He shrugged, "Dunno. She was when I last saw her."

My body sagged with relief, and I felt a huge weight lifting from my shoulders. Annie was alive. She wasn't dead. I could still save her. It wasn't too late. Humans had taken her, her and Dominic. Humans with guns. So Marina's vision hadn't been a dream. She _had_ really seen it. Providing Atlas and Pyro weren't lying, of course. I wasn't a telepath and I was no real judge of character, but in some way I sensed they were telling the truth. They didn't have Annie. These soldier types had abducted her. But why had they taken her and Dominic alive, and let Marina and Atlas live, then come to the Brotherhood's school intent on wiping out all mutant life? It didn't make sense.

"So who _are_ these people?" I asked. "Where will they have taken her?"

"Why should we tell _you_ anything?" Gemini retorted. "Pyro, why can't we just kill this guy? Just open the door and throw him out!"

"He saved my life!" snapped Cassandra unexpectedly.

Gemini laughed at her, "Don't tell me you're going soft on him! I say we kill him! Who's with me?"

"This isn't a democracy," Pyro interrupted. "I'm your leader and I'll decide who we kill and when. We _don't_ kill other mutants, remember?"

"Even when they're our enemies?"

"Yes. As it happens, he may have saved all of our lives. If he hadn't told us about Overlord, we might have stayed down there waiting for Overlord, and all of us might have gotten killed."

"No way!"

I said to Pyro, "So what happens now? If you're not going to kill me, what are you going to do?"

"I'll answer that question if you answer one of mine: where are the X-Men?"

I hesitated. If I said that they were still back at the school, then he'd know I was completely on my own, without anyone to stop him doing whatever he liked to me.

"They're on the case," I answered evasively. "They're looking out for me."

He frowned, "Hmm. Well, I'll tell you what I plan to do with you. You saved Cassandra's life. That means a lot to me, and I'm sure it means even more to her. It means we owe you a debt. It doesn't mean, however, that we're willing to let you go out of our sight. You're too valuable to us."

"So you're taking me prisoner again?" I snapped. "Then you should know that I – "

"Wait," he said. "I'm not finished. I have a proposition for you."

A proposition? This ought to be good.

"I'm listening," I told him.

"First of all, in answer to your earlier question: these humans who attacked us are part of a special government security unit. They were sent out to find and destroy the President's attacker. How they do it is left completely up to them."

"In other words, they're killing every mutant they see," Gemini spat.

"Yes. We believe we know where they are based. Our plan at this time is to launch a counter attack against them, to let them know that they can't go around killing as many mutants as they please. We'll destroy them and their base, and we'll make it clear that murdering mutants is not permitted."

"And my part in this would be…?" I asked.

"Join us," he said. "Temporarily. If these people have captured your sister, then most likely she's been held in their base somewhere. You can get her out before we destroy it, then we're all happy."

I looked at him suspiciously, "And then what? When I've rescued her, are you going to let us go?"

He smirked slightly, "With you and your sister together, flaunting your father's combined powers, who am I to dictate anything to you?"

It was an evasive answer. But so was the one I had given him, so I couldn't really complain. Nevertheless I shook my head, "Sorry. That's not good enough. I need to be certain that you'll let us go afterwards."

Pyro folded his arms, and returned my stare, "Do you now? Well, I need to know what part the X-Men are likely to play in this. If they're intending to get in our way and save the humans, we'll have to alter our plans."

I sighed. I would just have to tell him. 

"All right," I said. "The X-Men don't know where I am. They know I'm looking for my sister, and they know I was coming to your school, but that's all. I've no idea what they're doing right now, or what their plans are."

"They let you come after us on your own?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Not exactly," I responded, and left it at that.

Pyro seemed satisfied, "Well, that's good. Interference from the human-lovers is something we can gladly do without. Now that you've answered my question, I'll answer yours. Providing you and your sister do nothing to get in the way of our killing the humans, we will let you go free."

"I've no intention of helping out the humans," I replied. "All right, I'll go along with it. I'll take part in your attack, so I can rescue my sister. That's my priority, though – don't ask me to do anything that stops me from finding her."

"Of course."

"And if there's even a hint that you're about to stab me in the back, the whole thing's off!"

He nodded, "Likewise."

I knew I shouldn't be doing this. I knew I should go back to the school, tell the X-Men everything I knew, and turn the problem over to them. They were strong enough and old enough to move against these soldiers, and rescue Annie. But would they do it? Would they fight the humans in order to rescue my sister? I doubted it. The X-Men wouldn't attack humans. They'd try to talk to them, to reason with them, to negotiate with them, to understand them. That wouldn't help Annie.

Should I then stay with the Brotherhood? They wouldn't waste time with words. They'd just go in and do it. I had to admit, in a strange sort of way, I was beginning to like the way the Brotherhood did things. Pyro knew what his objective was, and he was simply going to carry it out. It was the fastest and the surest way that I would find Annie. I realised that I didn't care whose side I was on. All that mattered was finding my sister and getting her to safety. If I had to team up with the 'enemy' to do it, then it was a necessary evil.

Were they even evil? Were they the enemy? That was what I had been taught, but having met them first-hand, I was beginning to doubt what I'd been told. The truth seemed clear: humans hated mutants. We were merely fighting to protect ourselves. That was what had happened today. An unprovoked attack on the Brotherhood's school, and what could we – they – do, except fight back? It was one thing to promote a peaceful co-existence with humanity – it was another thing to stand by and let them try and wipe out our species.

But isn't that what we're doing to them? I remembered about the Plague. That was the Brotherhood's doing, and it was meant to eradicate humans. Why was that different from them trying to kill us? We _were_ the superior, more advanced species, but did that give us the right to decide that they weren't fit to share the planet with us? I was so confused; I didn't know what to think. Peace between humans and mutants would be ideal – it just didn't seem as if it was ever going to happen. There was too much hatred and prejudice on both sides. Another thought occurred to me.

"Pyro?" I asked. "Which one of you was it who killed the President?"

Pyro and the others glanced over at the other side of the helicopter – at Recyclo. The knife-thrower was idly looking out of the window, but on hearing my question, he turned his attention to me.

"I did," he said, in a flat, emotionless tone. "It was quite simple, really."

"How did you do it?"

"What's with all these questions?" Gemini demanded. "I'll tell you what it is; he's just probing for information so he can pass it on to the X-Men!"

"Leave him alone!" Cassandra snapped.

Recyclo interrupted them, speaking to Pyro, "Shall I tell him my mutation?"

Pyro nodded, "It's only sensible that he knows what each of us is capable of, if he's going to be working with us."

"All right," said Recyclo, looking at me once more. "Watch this."

He held out his hand between us, palm upwards, and suddenly something very strange happened. As I watched, one of his ubiquitous throwing knives appeared in his hand, seemingly from nowhere. He couldn't possibly have moved fast enough to pull it out of his sleeve or anything – what _had_ happened?

"You can teleport objects?" I guessed.

"No. It's hard to explain. The skin cells on the palms of my hands have mutated to enable me to – well, recycle – whatever they come into contact with. It can change things on an atomic level. My power changed the atomic structure of the air around my hand – it took the component elements and moved around electrons and protons to make different elements – and recycled it into this knife."

I thought I knew what he was talking about. It was just high school chemistry. But changing one substance into another like that was something I had never seen or heard of before. My eyes had widened. This was incredible. Suddenly, just as quickly as it had appeared, the knife vanished. Recyclo sighed, "As you see, my power can't change a substance indefinitely. It lasts for only a matter of minutes before returning to its original state."

"That's amazing…" I said. "That's how you killed the humans' President? With a – a recycled knife like that one?"

"Yes. The best thing about it was that the knife returning to being air meant that there was no evidence left behind."

I frowned, "Wouldn't it have been easier to recycle a gun or a bomb or something?"

"Yes, but I can't use my power to create anything as complex as that. A knife is simple to make because it's just a metal shape, and it only requires one or two different chemical elements. Guns and explosives are much more complicated."

I said nothing. So Recyclo was the assassin that the whole American nation was looking for, the one who had killed their President in front of their eyes. He didn't appear to be showing any remorse or guilt about the killing. Well, why should he? The President had only been human. I wouldn't have felt any remorse either……or would I?

How strange it was. Not so long ago, the Brotherhood had been my sworn enemies. Now I was working with them, fighting alongside them so I could rescue Annie. I still wasn't sure exactly what to make of them, and it was clear that the Brotherhood were having a variety of reactions towards me. Gemini was still glaring at me with hatred and mistrust; Scarab and Mole still looked wary and were ready to defend themselves at any moment if necessary; as I glanced at Cassandra she gave me a little smile, then looked away shyly; Recyclo's face was still an expressionless mask, and it was impossible to tell what he might be thinking; Atlas clearly didn't know what to think of me, since we'd yet to have a run-in with each other; and Vertigo was giving me no thought, concentrating as he was on flying the helicopter. They were all about my own age, some of them a little older – Recyclo was probably the oldest – and in different circumstances, who knew what might have happened? We might even have been friends.

What about Pyro? He was the only adult present, and as such his opinion of me was bound to be slightly different to those of his students. It was just like Shapeshifter and Shock had told me: when you were a child, everything was one-dimensional. Either you liked a person or you didn't. When you were an adult, it was more complicated. Thus it was between Pyro and myself. He cared about me because I was a mutant child in danger. At the same time we were enemies, because he wanted to kill humans, and I had been taught that I should protect them. I didn't know what to think about the Brotherhood, or any of this whole mess. I didn't want to think; I just wanted to get on with finding my sister. Annie was my one and only priority. Once she was safe, I could start to think again. I could try and decide what I believed, and who my friends were.

Something in my peripheral vision caught my eye, and I looked out of the window. We were now flying over ocean. Why were we flying over ocean?

"Wait a minute!" I said, looking over at Pyro. "Where are we going?"

He answered, "We have a sanctuary on an island not far from the coast. We'll have to move there now that our school is compromised. We'll pick up some supplies, wait until dark, then fly to the humans' base and destroy them."

"Sounds good to me."

By this time the air of tension inside the confined space had virtually subsided. Only Gemini was still giving me hostile looks. The others seemed content that I was not going to imminently attack them, and were paying me no more attention, returning to their own personal thoughts. Except for Cassandra. She was looking at me again; I could see her out of the corner of my eye. As I glanced over in her direction, her gaze immediately dropped to the floor, and the tiniest flush crept into her cheeks. That was a little strange. I frowned. I wasn't sure what she was thinking, or what feelings existed between us. More than once she had spoken out on my behalf against Gemini, something which had surprised me, and I suspected she had surprised herself too.

I thought about Cassandra. What were my feelings for her? I didn't know. We were enemies – weren't we? Yet I had saved her life, by pulling her away from those soldiers inside the school. And she had saved mine, by pushing me out of the path of those bullets in the forest. Why had we done that for each other? Why would two enemies save each other's lives? Would I have done the same for Gemini? No. What about Pyro? I wasn't sure. Yet I had done it for Cassandra, and I knew, if necessary, I would do it again. I knew I cared about her; I valued her life, and I didn't want anything to happen to her. I knew I'd be upset if she was hurt or killed. Why? It didn't make any sense. Something, somewhere deep inside of me, was stirring, messing with my emotions, making my enemies into friends and my friends into enemies. What was it? What was happening to me? What was this strange feeling that turned everything back to front and upside down, and made me feel things I had never felt before, and think things I had never thought before? I couldn't be falling in love – could I? No. It was impossible. I mean, we didn't even know each other. We'd spent less than an hour in each other's company. We'd hardly spoken, we'd even fought each other, and hurt each other. I couldn't possibly be falling in love with Cassandra.

But I knew I was. I had saved her life, and she had saved mine. Inside both of us, some animal instinct had taken control, overriding our logical thoughts, making us act on our emotions and protect each other. It didn't make any sense at all. What was love? Why would it make me save the life of a person I didn't know, had never spoken to, and who was my enemy? Was it some kind of chemical reaction? Could our bodies somehow – sense – that we might like each other, and force us to act accordingly? One thing was for sure: it was confusing the hell out of me. I knew that it was love, love for my sister, that had led me to ally with the Brotherhood and join in with their attack. But this was a different kind of love. Love for my family was unconditional, unchanging, and simple to understand and handle. Love for a girl – for Cassandra – was wildly different. I didn't understand it at all, and I had no idea what to do about it. How could I be in love with my enemy? I didn't know.

I glanced up at her. She was watching me once more, and she smiled at me. I found myself smiling nervously in return. Cassandra's smile widened a little, bringing out dimples in her cheeks. My mind was assailed by a whirlwind of emotions. I was elated, scared, excited and confused at the same time. Such was the maelstrom of love. Whatever it was, I knew it was more puzzling and more powerful than any mutation or gift that anybody might possess. It was a power inside all of us. Cassandra and I were still looking at each other, still smiling, still sharing our secret, forbidden love, and in that instant a bond was sealed between us. We were no longer enemies. We were friends, friends who were caught on different sides of a divide. At last I understood what Shock and Shapeshifter had been trying to tell me. A person _could_ be both a friend and an enemy.

Annie and Cassandra. My sister and my secret love. The two girls I loved more than anybody else in the world. I vowed to myself that I would do anything and everything to protect them both, to fight on their behalf. Nothing else mattered any more. I no longer cared about the Brotherhood, or the X-Men, or humans, or mutants – they could all worry about themselves. There was no room in my heart for anybody else. Just Annie and Cassandra. 

__

I'm coming for you, Annie, I thought to myself, _I have to ally with our enemies to do it, but I'm coming. Just keep yourself alive._


	10. The Demon Within

A/N: Is anybody actually reading this?

Chapter Eight: The Demon Within

It wasn't until we had landed on the Brotherhood's island, and the rest of them were busy preparing for the attack, that Cassandra and I were alone together. I followed her to a room that appeared to be a bedroom – presumably her own – where she sat on the bed, and I stood by the wall, both of us looking at each other a little nervously, neither of us willing to speak. I couldn't think of anything to express the way I felt. I admired her, she had saved my life, but at the same time we were enemies and we might have to fight each other again some time in the future. It wasn't just as simple as saying, "I love you" – there were too many complications that might doom any potential relationship before it could even begin. Eventually Cassandra spoke, hesitantly, "I – I just realised; I don't even know what your name is."

"Gary. I'm Gary," I said, my voice betraying the nervousness I was feeling. "What – what's yours?"

"I'm Cassandra."

"No, I – I mean your real name."

She looked at me with a confused expression. What part of the question didn't she understand? I said, "Cassandra's your mutant name, right? What name did your mum and dad give you?"

This time both her face and her voice reflected a mixture of anger and sadness, "My parents – my _human_ parents – never gave me a name. They gave me up for adoption the day I was born – they didn't want to have a mutant child."

"How did they know?" I asked. "About your mutation, I mean. I thought our gifts didn't normally show until we were about to enter puberty."

Cassandra looked up at me, and sighed miserably, "You can't see it now, because my hair covers it, but part of my scalp is – well, I haven't seen it either, but it's visibly mutated. It's because my mutation is in my brain, part of it showed up on my scalp. When I was born, it gave away what I was. My human parents hated me for it, and abandoned me."

"What – what happened to you after that?"

"I was raised at an orphanage. Nobody wanted to adopt me because I was a mutant. The other children there knew about it, and they hated me too. I spent my childhood enduring the loathing of humanity. It didn't end until I was twelve."

"Then what happened?"

"Pyro came for me. He adopted me. He told me he had founded a school for mutants, where I could be safe from humans, and where I could learn how to use my powers to protect myself from them. That was two years ago."

Two years ago. So…she was fourteen, the same age as me.

"Pyro adopted you?" I asked.

"Yeah. That's what he meant when he told you Overlord was his child, remember? He adopted all of us."

"The rest of them were abandoned too?"

She nodded, "In various circumstances. They all ended up without a family. Some of them ran away from home; some of them were thrown out. Recyclo's parents died when he was a baby. Gemini was kidnapped from an orphanage by some researcher who wanted to do experiments on mutants – Pyro rescued her. He rescued all of us."

"I can't believe your parents abandoned you…"

"Didn't the same thing happen to you?"

I shook my head, "My mum and dad are mutants, remember?"

"Oh yeah, of course. I wish mine had been too. Humans are just callous and cold-hearted. They don't deserve to be able to have children. I can't believe anyone would disown their daughter."

"So now you – now you kill humans?"

"I _hate_ humans," Cassandra snapped. "All my life they've hated me and abused me and hurt me. I don't care what you say; I'll _never_ have anything but hate for them!"

I raised my hands, "Hey, settle down. I don't exactly love them either."

"They can't accept that we're the next stage in evolution. They can't accept that they have to give way to us. They fight against it, against us. We have to fight back."

"I – um – I don't really have any opinions on that right now," I said. "I'm just concerned with trying to find my sister. But at the same time – I don't really know how to say this, but I – I think I'd like to get to know you better."

Without being aware of it, I had moved over closer to the bed. Cassandra was looking up at me as she said, "Really?"

"I never did thank you properly for saving my life."

"Well, you – you saved mine too," she replied, as a flush spread over her cheeks and she quickly dropped her gaze to the floor.

I was now sitting beside her on the bed, my arm moving up and over to gently touch her shoulder. Cassandra's breath caught in her throat, and she looked at me once more, her eyes fixed on mine. She moved her body, angling round slightly, until we were almost face to face. I swallowed nervously. What was happening? I wasn't in full control of my actions; my emotions were beginning to take over. My other hand found Cassandra's, and our fingers intertwined, as we found our bodies moving towards each other in some kind of instinctive synchrony. I felt her breath, hot against my cheek. Our eyes closed. Our lips touched.

The door swung open, and a voice said, "Hey, Cass, have you – "

We broke apart immediately, just in time to see Gemini's eyes widening in horror as she gasped, then screamed, "_What the hell are you doing_?!"

For a moment, silence fell upon the room, as the three of us were too stunned to speak. Gemini was the first to recover, and she shook her head at Cassandra, declaring, "You've lost it! Oh, you have _so_ totally lost it! If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd fallen in love with this human-loving creep!"

"Maybe I have! You can mind your own business!" Cassandra snapped back.

Gemini sneered, "Yeah, you're right; as if I care what happens between you and this traitor!"

"Traitor?" I repeated in surprise.

"Yeah! Any one of us who likes humans is a traitor to mutantkind! You want to be careful who you start a relationship with, Cass! You want to be _very_ careful!"

With that she slammed the door and was gone. For a few moments Cassandra looked uncomfortably at her feet, then I touched her on the shoulder and said in an awkward voice, "Sorry."

Cassandra gave me a shy smile, "Don't worry about it. She won't be mad for long. In ten minutes she'll come back and be my best friend again. She's like that."

I grinned wryly, "I don't think she likes me very much."

"She doesn't like what you stand for. Gemini hates humans with a vengeance like nothing I've ever seen before. None of us can even imagine what that researcher tried to do to her. Underneath that hostile exterior, though, she's not a bad person. She's judging you the wrong way. She doesn't know you at all."

"Um – neither do you, really."

"Yeah, I guess…" she admitted.

"We really don't know anything about each other."

"We'll learn. I – I can't really explain it, but – I can _feel_ something inside of me, something that's telling me you're the right person for me. I don't know if that makes any sense, but – well, I can't really describe it."

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, I'm – I'm getting a similar feeling. Even the first time we met I could sense something. When we were fighting each other, there was a tiny part inside of me, telling me not to hurt you. It's so weird; we've only known each other for a few days, and we've hardly spent any time together, but still…I already feel as if I've known you for years. I didn't know I could feel so close to somebody so quickly, even though we've probably spent more time fighting than we have talking."

"Yeah…sorry about the fight. Hope I didn't hurt you."

"Yeah. Same."

In other circumstances, I might have been more excited at finding myself sitting on a bed next to one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen, who admired me as much as I admired her. I wanted to come close to her again, to hold her, to feel her against me, to kiss her, to share the love that flowed hesitantly and uncertainly between us. I couldn't. My mind wouldn't let me surrender to my desire. I still had Annie to worry about. I couldn't really relax or give my full attention to anything, not with my sister's plight still nagging at my consciousness. Once the attack was over, and Annie was safe, then Cassandra and I could get close again.

But once Annie was safe I would be back with her at the X-Men's school. Away from Cassandra. Away from my love. I somehow doubted we'd be allowed to visit each other. If only I could bring her back with me, convince her to leave the Brotherhood and join our school…but I knew she'd never agree to it. Her hatred for humanity was too powerful. The other possibility was that I stayed with the Brotherhood. I had to admit, that wasn't too unattractive an idea. I had always been taught to protect humans, but nobody had ever explained _why_ I should. And with so many humans going out of their way to kill mutants or make their lives a misery…why should I want to help them? Humans were my enemies…but still…I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of killing them indiscriminately. Sure, fighting humans to protect ourselves was one thing – but murdering them was another thing entirely. 

If I stayed with the Brotherhood, I'd be away from Annie, and from Dominic and the rest of my friends. Including Marina. Marina…my Marina. My love. The girl I had kissed. The girl I had told myself I loved. Somehow, somewhere along the line, she had been entirely pushed out of my mind. Now Cassandra was my love. What had happened to me? What madness was this, that I could have forgotten Marina so quickly? Did I still love her? I didn't know. Had I ever loved her? Had my reaction not simply been from a desire to comfort and protect her? Then again, was my love for Cassandra not simply a reaction to the girl who had saved my life? Did I really love either of them? How could I tell? When I had kissed Cassandra, it had felt different from when I had kissed Marina. I couldn't explain exactly how it was different, but the two feelings had been worlds apart.

I didn't know what to think. I didn't want to be without either of them, but I knew I couldn't love both of them. Some time soon, I'd have to make a choice. It was something I didn't want to do. It was something I didn't want to think about either. I love Cassandra, I told myself, I'm with her now. I thought I loved Marina but I didn't. It was just my instinct to protect her, my natural reaction to somebody who needed my help, who was smaller and weaker than I was. I didn't really love her. Did I?

"It's strange," I said to Cassandra. "I was led to believe that you – your group, I mean – were murderers and psychopaths. But having spent some time with you, I can see that isn't true. You're just people, like me or any other mutant."

"We don't care what others think of us," she said. "We know in our hearts that what we're doing is right."

I took her hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze, bringing a tiny smile to her lips. I said, "What I was going to say was that I'm not sure how the rest of your group will react to us. Us being together, I mean. Gemini clearly wasn't happy. What will the rest of them think? What will Pyro say?"

Cassandra shrugged, "I dunno. Like I said, I don't care what people think. We don't need anybody's permission to like each other. They probably won't like it, but it doesn't matter."

"What are the rest of them like? I mean, do you get on as friends? I just can't – couldn't – picture you as anything other than a group of cold-blooded killers."

"We're not that," she said. "As you said, we're just people. Some of them I like and some of them I don't. Gemini's the only other girl, so we're pretty close friends – most of the time. The guys are a mixture: I like Vertigo; Atlas isn't too bad, but he's a bit of a nervous wreck at times, which can get on my nerves; Scarab and Mole are pretty regular guys, they're always trying to get Gemini to date one of them; Overlord is – I mean _was_ – always trying to impress me, and wanted me to be his girl. I never really liked him – he was too arrogant – but now that he's dead…I dunno…it just feels wrong to be speaking ill of him…"

I said nothing. She finished, "And Recyclo…he, uh, he freaks me out."

"In what way?"

"Dunno. Just the way he never shows any emotion, no matter what's happening. And it's creepy that he doesn't even know who he is. His parents died just after he was born, and he's got no idea who they were. Apparently he's got a twin brother, somewhere, but nobody knows where. They were split up after their parents died. I guess it can't be easy for him."

"Yeah…"

Then she stood, "Come on; let's go get some food. We'll need to have something to eat before the mission."

I followed her out of the room and downstairs to a corridor that ended in a medium-sized kitchen. For a moment I was surprised to find such a room in the Brotherhood's secret base – I'd half-expected it all to be dark prison cells and creepy research labs – but of course, everybody needed to eat. 

Cassandra handed me food, and I ate it, without really looking at it or concentrating on what it was. My mind was wandering again; despite my attempts to keep my fear under control, my brain was imagining all sorts of terrible things that might be happening to my sister right now, while I was doing nothing to help her. She might even be dead…what if I was too late to help her? No, I told myself, don't think like that. She's alive, and you can help her. Think positive for once. I wanted to ask Cassandra what the two of us were going to do once the mission was over, and we were free to go our separate ways. I didn't want to be away from her, but I didn't want to be apart from my sister and my friends either. I decided I should try and make up my mind which I preferred, before discussing it with her. I didn't want to upset her in any way.

The turmoil that enveloped my mind meant that I was only partly conscious of the passing of time, and thus I wasn't sure how much later it was that we were ready to leave. The sun had gone down while we were inside, and the night sky was showing the first of its stars. Cassandra and I were still together when we were called to join the rest of them, and my feelings were mixed as we walked side by side to the helicopter. I didn't trust the Brotherhood; I didn't know them well enough yet. Could I be sure that Pyro would keep his word, and would let Annie and me go? He had said before that we were the 'key to everything he had planned' or something. Surely he wouldn't let us out of his grasp that easily? Or could it be that he had underestimated just how powerful Annie and I were, and he was genuinely concerned that he and his group wouldn't be able to keep us captive for very long? Or had he decided that incurring the wrath of the X-Men and my parents was not such a great idea, especially now that Overlord was gone?

I didn't hold anything against Pyro. I understood why he had done what he had done, and why he was going to do what he had planned. It made perfect sense to me: humans wanted to kill us, so we had to defend ourselves. I had never understood exactly why I should try to be friends with humanity, when they were clearly unwilling to reciprocate. When this was all over, I'd have to sit down with one of the adults and ask them. 

Vertigo was piloting the helicopter again, and as Cassandra and I sat in the back and Pyro pulled the door closed, he took off and we began our journey to the mainland. I watched the Brotherhood members differently now. I knew now that they weren't just mindless killing machines; I knew that they were thinking, feeling, emotional people, with relationships and desires just like anyone else. I noticed things now that I hadn't seen before. I saw the way that Scarab and Mole tried to catch Gemini's eye, to get her attention, though she was deliberately avoiding looking at them. I noticed how Atlas was nervous, as Cassandra had said, constantly glancing out of the windows, or at me, checking that he was safe, making sure that there was nothing in danger of imminently harming him. Pyro was detached, by himself, and I sensed he had always been a loner. That kind of person I could relate to. Recyclo was still a calm, imperturbable, emotionless, almost robotic figure, staring out of the front of the aircraft, as if his mind was in a different place.

Cassandra leaned slightly against me, and it felt good to have her there, to know that I had at least one friend in this cauldron of uncertainty. I wasn't sure whether any of her friends had noticed how close she was getting. Gemini was still turning round to give us disgusted glances every now and again, and I suspected that Pyro didn't miss much that was going on, but nobody else had given any indication, or raised any objection to Cassandra's new-found love.

After some time, Vertigo began glancing at the radar display beside the controls. Eventually he broke the silence inside the chopper, "We're nearly there, chief."

Pyro looked up, "Good. Land on the south side, next to the river."

"Right."

Our leader went on, "All right, I'll go over the plan once more, mainly for your benefit, Rosiçky. This helicopter is invisible to radar, and it's night, so the humans should have no warning of our coming. We'll take them completely by surprise. Our main force will draw their personnel away from the building, and our secondary group will sneak inside the building to plant the explosives."

Then he looked at me, "I was planning for you to go in with the secondary force, and search for your sister. Once you've got her out, let us know, and we'll detonate the explosives."

"Got it," I said. "Who else is in the secondary force?"

"Mole and Gemini."

Mole's face lit up with a grin, perhaps at the prospect of being alone with Gemini. I was less happy at the prospect of being away from Cassandra. I glanced at my love, and she shook her head sadly, "I have to stay with the main group. I'm more useful there, predicting where the humans are going to come at us from."

Before I could say anything in reply, Vertigo was taking the chopper down, and the rest of them were preparing to disembark. I saw Mole pulling a small bag from under his seat and slinging it over his shoulder – that had to be the explosives. I had no doubt that the Brotherhood knew what they were doing. I had no doubt that they could successfully destroy this building, and the humans guarding it. With luck I'd be able to sneak in and find my sister soon enough. Hopefully the humans would commit their entire security force to defending against Pyro and his group, and I would not have to fight my way in and out.

The helicopter touched down, and Scarab threw open the door, jumping out on to the ground. The rest of us followed, and soon we were ready to move. Vertigo remained inside, seated at the controls, and Pyro said, "Remember, you stay here in case we need to make a quick withdrawal. We'll contact you if that happens."

"Right."

Pyro looked at the rest of us, "Let's go."

We moved away from the helicopter. In the pitch darkness I could barely see a thing, but he seemed to know where he was going, and I just followed the rest of them. Before too long I could make the shape of a building in the darkness. The night was silent. The only sound I could hear was the gentle sound of water flowing; Pyro had mentioned something about a river, hadn't he? As we approached the dark shape that had to be the humans' base, Pyro held up a hand to stop us. In the blackness I could make out a fence, just in front of us, blocking our way. It was about ten feet high and made of some kind of wire mesh.

"Recyclo," Pyro whispered.

A shape beside me moved, and Recyclo stepped forward. I watched as a metallic blade appeared in his hand, and he began to cut through the wire. His recycled tool did not last long – I remembered his power was only temporary – and the blade vanished after a minute or so. With his other hand he formed another cutter, and continued the process. Mole was sniffing the air cautiously, but he remained calm and I assumed there were no threats nearby.

By now Recyclo had cut a hole big enough for us to squeeze through, and he led the way through the fence. Mole sniffed the air once more, and tapped Pyro on the arm, pointing ahead and holding up three fingers.

"Three man patrol," Pyro hissed to the rest of us. "Scarab, Recyclo, take care of them. _Silently_."

My eyes were adjusting to the dark, and I could now make out three shapes moving in the night. They were heading in a direction roughly diagonal to the way we were facing, and would pass by us any moment now. Before they could do so, Recyclo skimmed two knives through the air towards the first pair of humans, slicing into their throats. The third man reacted in shock, but before he could make a sound, Scarab had grabbed him and twisted his neck around. I winced at the _snap_ as it broke. Pyro noticed my reaction, and whispered, "Remember, these people have your sister. They killed Overlord and they tried to kill all of us. Show no mercy."

I nodded, trying not to show my uncertain feelings, "Right."

Mole and Scarab had dragged the bodies outside the fence where they wouldn't be found, and we proceeded to the building without encountering any further humans. Pyro stopped the group and said, "This is the crucial moment. We have to do this just right in order to catch them by surprise. With luck they'll panic, and send out their entire force. That'll make it much easier for our secondary force. You guys get ready."

Mole and Gemini nodded, and I shared an unhappy glance with Cassandra. What was going to happen? Would I ever see her again? I no longer cared what her friends might think; I pulled her gently towards me to give her a quick kiss on her lips. She smiled. The others stared for a moment or two, then their concentration returned to the mission. Mole looked at me uncertainly, but said, "We'll need to hide somewhere until the soldiers come out."

"Right."

"We should be able to stay hidden round the side of the building," Gemini said.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Pyro nodded to Atlas, "Once they're in position, start the distraction."

The earth mutant swallowed nervously and said, "Got it, boss."

I turned to follow Mole, when Cassandra hissed suddenly, "Wait! Wait a minute!"

Gemini gave an exasperated sigh, "What for? So you can give lover boy a final kiss?"

"No – the X-Men are coming!"

The rest of us turned simultaneously to face her, our eyes widening in shock, and in most cases horror.

"Tell me you're joking," Pyro snapped.

"No. I can foresee it. They'll be here in under five minutes."

Scarab swore. Gemini pointed an accusing finger at me, "He betrayed us! He brought them here! I knew he would!"

"Keep quiet!" Pyro hissed. "The last thing we want is for the humans to hear us!"

"Gary didn't betray us!" Cassandra said angrily, coming to my defence. "I was with him the whole time on the island. There's no way he could have contacted them!"

"Yeah, bullshit!" Gemini retorted.

Pyro waved both of them to silence, "It doesn't matter how they know! All that matters is they're on the way, and we're going to have to move much faster than we planned! All right, Atlas, now! Mole, get into position!"

Jolted into action, I hurried after Mole and Gemini, turning round to give Cassandra one last glance. She mouthed _I love you_ and I gave her a sort of smile in return. Would I ever see her again? I didn't know. I ran on.

"This is far enough; stop here," Mole whispered, and the three of us crouched down beside the black hulk in the darkness that was the humans' base.

"As soon as the scum rush out, we go in," he said. "Gem, you've got the rest of the explosives, right?"

She patted a small package clipped to her belt, "Yeah. Five minute fuse? That ought to give us enough time to get out."

"What about my sister?" I asked.

"Screw her. We have to set the bombs and get out of here before the X-Men show up."

"Hey! We're not leaving her in there to die!"

Gemini glared at me, "If she's anything like you, she deserves to die! Human-loving scum!"

I reacted angrily, throwing a punch before I could stop myself. Mole knocked my arm aside and hissed, "Leave her alone, X-Man."

"I am _not_ letting my sister die!" I told them furiously.

Mole sighed, "Fine. We'll set the fuses for seven and a half minutes, no longer. If you can't find her before then, I'm sorry. Any longer and the X-Men will find our bombs and defuse them."

It was the best I was going to get. Could I find Annie inside seven and a half minutes? A lot would depend on whether or not she was conscious. If she was, she would sense me telepathically, and would be able to direct me to where she was being held. If she was unconscious – or worse, dead – finding her might be almost impossible. I had no idea where to look; I would probably head for wherever security was tightest. It would have to be tight to hold my sister.

Something was happening out front. Atlas had to be using his power, as I could feel a tremor running through the earth beneath my feet. It grew stronger, and soon the ground at the front of the building began to shake violently. Shouts and yells could be heard, and there came the sound of doors slamming. The humans began to pour out of the building, into the waiting arms of the main group. A throwing knife flashed through the air from a shape that had to be Recyclo, and a stream of fire illuminated the darkness around Pyro for a second before being directed at the soldiers. I hoped Cassandra wasn't going to get hurt.

"All right, here goes," said Mole.

Clenching one adamantium fist, he swung it towards the wall beside him. The brickwork crumbled under the force of the blow, and the wall collapsed, leaving a hole big enough to climb through. Mole squeezed through the gap, and I went next, Gemini clearly not trusting me enough to leave me behind. She came after me, and the three of us paused in the corridor inside.

"We need to find their ammunition storage," said Mole. "That's the best place to set the explosives."

"Where will they be keeping my sister?"

"How should I know? Finding her is your job."

He and Gemini hurried off down the corridor away from me, and I took a moment to get my bearings. I had no idea where to look. I didn't even know how wide the building was, or how many floors it had. OK. Logic suggested that the high security areas would be on the lowest levels to make escape more difficult. Would there be any underground floors? I didn't know. I had to find out. I activated my body camouflage, and ran in the opposite direction to the one they had just taken. It was taking me around towards the front entrance of the building, and I listened carefully for the sounds of any humans. I couldn't hear anybody, but from the noises outside the battle was now raging. I heard gunshots, explosions, screams, the crackle of radios, men yelling desperately for medical attention or back-up. It seemed the Brotherhood were winning.

I turned a corner, and found myself in a wide corridor leading to the front entrance. From behind me I heard footsteps, and I froze against the wall, relying on my camouflage to keep me hidden, as two soldiers hurried past. As they passed, I resisted the temptation to breathe a jet of flame at them. I didn't have time to get into a fight. I had about ten minutes, maybe less, to find Annie and get her out. I swore as I realised just how difficult it was going to be. Had our situations been reversed, it would have been much easier. With her telepathy and X-ray eyes, Annie could have pinpointed my position in seconds. I had to do the best as I could with the powers I had. The trouble was, with the exception of my camouflage, my powers were best used for fighting, not for infiltration or sneaking around. I was no use at this kind of thing, but still, I had to do it. I was the only one who could rescue Annie. The X-Men probably wouldn't get here in time.

The soldiers had gone, and I moved on, searching for anything that might help me find Annie. A map or plan of the base would have been nice. A little further on, I found a set of stairs leading to an underground level, and I decided to go down, gambling on my guess that Annie would be found among the lower floors. At the bottom of the stairs I stopped, uncertain which way I should go. I couldn't afford to waste any time, and both ways looked just as good, so I randomly chose to go left.

There were no markings, no directions, nothing to tell me where I was or where I was going, and I rapidly became disoriented and lost. More than once I thought I had found my way back to the original fork at the foot of the stairs, but each time I was wrong and I began to panic. Annie had less than ten minutes to live and I didn't have the slightest clue where she might be. As I hurried helplessly down another blank corridor, I thought I heard voices. I stopped, and listened hard. Yes, there were definitely voices coming from the turning to the left. I had no idea who it might be, but I decided to head that way anyway.

As I turned left, I came across a door marked '**AMMUNITION STORAGE – Authorised Personnel Only**'. It was lying half open. The voices were coming from inside. Still camouflaged, I snuck a look around the door. Inside the room, standing over the bodies of two dead humans, were Gemini and Mole. They were busy preparing the explosives, and I called to them, "Hey! Have you seen my sister?"

Both of them jumped slightly in surprise, and looked around. I was still invisible, but I pushed the door open to let them know where I was. Mole blinked short-sightedly in my direction, and Gemini's face became a hostile glare once more.

"Have you seen her?" I repeated.

"No, we haven't!" she snapped.

"Better hurry; you've got about eight minutes," said Mole.

I left them to it, and hurried back outside. I _had_ to find Annie. I _had_ to get her out of here. I turned right at the next fork and followed the corridor until it branched out again. I felt like screaming in frustration. Everything here looked exactly the same! How was I supposed to find where my sister was? It was hopeless! It was a complete waste of time! At this rate I'd be lucky if I could find my own way out. I slumped back against the wall, and sank to the floor in defeat, my shoulders drooping, my heart sinking utterly. I would never find her.

__

Gary?

I gasped, taken completely by surprise. What was that?

__

Gary? Is that you?

It was Annie. She was using her telepathy, speaking into my mind, which meant she was alive and conscious. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. One of my burdens was lifted from my shoulder. At least she wasn't dead. My sister was alive. Now I just had to keep her that way. I had to find out where she was. I couldn't communicate with her directly, but I knew she'd be reading my mind, and if I could concentrate hard enough on a certain sequence of words, I could get a message through to her.

__

Annie? Are you all right? I thought.

She responded almost instantly, _I'm not hurt. What are you doing here?_

Came to get you, of course. Where are you?

Hang on a second. All right, I can see you. You're on the same floor as I am. I'll try and direct you to where I'm being held prisoner.

I stood up, _I'm ready._

The route Annie guided me along might have been any random sequence of turns and corridors if I hadn't known it was going somewhere, and I supposed that, given enough time, I would probably have found the way there myself. As I took a right turn into an area I definitely hadn't visited before, I heard Annie's voice in my head, _You're very close. There are soldiers around the next corner, so be careful._

I was still camouflaged, and as I moved cautiously around the corner, I saw them. There were three men, looking nervous, standing outside a door, clearly on guard. Were they guarding the room where Annie was being held? She must have been reading my mind, as my sister's voice came, _I'm through the door they're guarding. You'll have to knock them out, or distract them if you can_.

There was no time to think of a clever plan to get them out of the way. I had only minutes to get us out; Annie didn't know about the bombs. As quietly as possible I hurried over towards the guards, and threw a punch at the one nearest me. He didn't see the invisible fist coming towards him, and the blow knocked him to the floor, out cold. The other two men responded in shock, panicking slightly, raising their weapons and looking frantically around to try and see what had happened to the other man. I had to knock them out before they could call for reinforcements. Using the moves Shapeshifter had taught me, I spun on the spot, kicking one man in the chest, then driving the side of my hand into the other soldier in a vicious chop. Both of them dropped to the floor, unconscious.

I tried the door. It was locked. I didn't have time to find a way to unlock it. Tensing my muscles, I attacked the door with my shoulder, putting my entire mutated strength behind it. It took three or four charges until the door collapsed and gave way. I hurried through, finding myself in a tiny, dark corridor, that led to another door. This too was locked, but it too didn't last long against my strength. Pushing my way through into the room beyond, I screwed up my eyes against the brightness of the light, but I knew I'd found my goal.

Lying on a hard metal table, on her back, was Annie. Her wrists and ankles were restrained, to stop her from using her telekinesis, and she too had her eyes screwed up against the light. It was shining down from a single, very intense electric bulb, and I knew it had to be hurting her sensitive eyes. I ran over to her at once, and tore off the restraints that held her down. Once free, she rose into a sitting position, and we put our arms around each other, both sagging with relief, both overjoyed at seeing the other alive and unhurt. Annie had probably been worrying about me just as much as I had about her. Nobody on Earth meant more to me than my sister. 

"Listen, Annie, we have to get out of here," I said quickly. "Don't ask me to explain just now. In about five minutes this whole place is going to explode. There are bombs set. We have to get Dominic and get out."

Annie didn't argue. She got to her feet, steadying herself against the table; she'd clearly been kept immobile for some time, and her muscles were still stiff.

"He's through there," she said, pointing to a door opposite the one I'd come in by. "I'll be ready in a moment."

I shouldered the door open, and found myself in another holding cell, the same as Annie's. Another of the metal tables sat in the centre of the room, and on it Dominic lay restrained. He looked over as he heard the door being broken open, and he exclaimed, "Gary! What are you – "

"I'll explain later!" I told him, as I ripped his restraints off. "We have to get out of here _now_! Can you stand?"

He got off the table, testing his legs, stumbling slightly, but nodding, "I'll be fine. Where's Annie? Is she OK?"

"She's fine. Come on, we haven't got any time to waste!"

I hurried back through to the other room; Dominic following me as fast as he could. Annie was waiting for us, and she said, "I've planned a route out. Just follow me."

"Right."

The three of us left the prison area, past the three still unconscious guards, and on a path that I trusted would lead us back up to the ground floor, and to the exit. There was no time to think, no time to stop and try to remember if I'd been this way before; all I could do was follow Annie. As we came to an intersection, she suddenly stopped, giving a cry of warning. It came not a moment too soon, as three humans came running around the corner towards us. All three of them had automatic weapons, and they aimed to fire at us. Annie and Dominic both lifted a hand; Dominic's power shone a beam of light into the eyes of the humans, causing them to wince and looked away; Annie used her mind to pull the guns out of their hands, and throw the weapons away down the corridor. I shoved the soldiers to the floor, stunning them, and then we were speeding away, heading once more for escape.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, there were several more dead humans who hadn't been there last time I had. I assumed Mole and Gemini must have already made their escape this way. Shock and dismay crossed Annie's face as she saw the dead bodies, but there was no time to stop, and we hurried on up. At the top of the stairs we paused. The front entrance of the building was visible up ahead, and there was still a battle being fought outside. It was too far away for me to make out anyone, but Annie was squinting ahead with her telescopic eyesight, and she gasped, "It's the Brotherhood!"

"I know, I came here with them," I said. "I'll explain later, I promise. There's another way out; follow me."

I wanted to ask Annie if Cassandra was all right, but I knew I couldn't. I didn't want to let my sister know I had fallen in love with one of the enemy, and besides, Annie wouldn't know which one Cass was. She and Dominic ran after me as I led the way round to the opening that Mole had punched into the building. We squeezed through the hole, and then we were outside the building, one step closer to safety.

"Look!" Annie cried, pointing into the darkness. "There's our jet!"

I didn't have her vision, but I took her word for it. The X-Men were here. Annie was already running in the direction she had pointed, and Dominic was behind her, his right hand raised, shining light ahead of him as a torch. I hesitated, then ran after them. The sounds of the battle were still coming from my left, and there was an aching urge to go and see what was happening, to see what had become of Cassandra. I almost changed direction to go and find her, and yet…and yet I didn't. My mission was accomplished. I had rescued Annie. Everything was all right. I could go home now.

In the darkness a shape was moving towards me. Instinctively I clenched my fists, and assumed a defensive posture, inhaling deeply, ready to breathe fire on anyone who tried to attack me.

"Gary!"

It was Shock. I relaxed, and she put her arms around me, holding me tightly, relief pouring out of her.

"Gary, what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I – "

"No – you can tell me later. Go to the jet and wait with your sister. We'll be with you soon."

I shook my head desperately, "We have to get out of here! The building is rigged with explosives!"

"I know, I know. Trust me. Go and wait with the jet."

She gently directed me towards the dark shape that I could now make out as the X-jet. Then she turned and hurried in the direction of the sounds of fighting. For a moment I watched her go. A burst of flame lit up the night – that had to be Pyro. My eyes widened suddenly. Was it my imagination, or had I seen Cassandra's face by the light of the flames? Was she all right? Was she still alive? Was I ever going to see her again? Could our love ever be?

I didn't know. I turned and ran for the jet. Annie and Dominic were already there, standing at the bottom of the landing ramp, watching the fight in the distance.

"How did they know we were here?" asked Dominic.

I shook my head, "I don't know."

Then I frowned? How _had_ the X-Men known to come here? I hadn't told them. It was too far away for Annie to have contacted them by telepathy. There had to be another explanation…well, I could ask them soon enough. We waited in the cover of the jet, listening to the sounds of battle still ongoing. I knew there couldn't be long now. I knew the explosion had to be imminent.

With a roar like a thunderstorm, the building erupted into the night air, the sound almost deafening, combined with the sudden flash of light and fire that illuminated everything in its radius. For a moment the veil of darkness was pierced, and I could make out everything: the Brotherhood and the soldiers still locked together in mortal combat, with the X-Men approaching from the sides and attempting to stop the conflict. The blast knocked all of them off their feet, and as blackness surrounded them once more, a chaotic melee ensued. From the interior of the jet I heard footsteps, and then a voice, upset and afraid, "What – what was that?"

"Marina!" I exclaimed.

She looked at me, suddenly realising I was there, and her eyes widened in happy surprise, "Gary!"

Before I knew what I was doing, we had our arms around each other, and I was kissing her passionately. My logical mind screamed at me: what was I doing? What about Cassandra? I loved her, didn't I? How could I be here kissing another girl? My emotional mind ignored all of it, taking control, as I held Marina tightly and we came together for another kiss. We broke apart at last, and she rested in my arms, relieved and content at seeing me safe. Annie smiled, happy because we were.

I loved Marina. I was sure of that. I thought I had loved Cassandra, but that must have been wrong, because now I was sure that Marina and I were meant to be together. This love between us, that felt so good, it could not possibly be wrong. Something that felt so wonderful and so pure could not possibly be a mistake. I had never been as happy as this before, and I probably never would be again. I smiled to myself. As long as I had Marina, this happiness would last forever, as our love would last forever together.

It wasn't the first time that I had been wrong. And yet, as we parted, and I turned back to face the battle to try and see what was happening, I had no way of knowing that my happiness would only last for mere seconds. The moment Annie stiffened and gasped, I knew something was wrong. She whirled round, and I turned too, facing the small group of soldiers who must have circled round and hidden behind the jet. Annie's telepathy had warned her of their presence a second too late. Time seemed to move in slow motion, as the soldiers raised their weapons to fire on us. Annie was lifting both hands, preparing to use her power to protect us, and Dominic had his right hand out, ready to blind the humans. Neither of them was fast enough. The first of the bullets missed Annie's head by mere centimetres; the second skimmed past my leg.

The third hit Marina in the throat. She gasped, clutched at her neck, and fell to the ground, blood spilling on the earth around her.

Somewhere inside me, deep within my soul, a demon was released, a terrible, howling demon of vengeance. It screamed through my throat: a raw howl of hatred, revenge and irreplaceable loss. The demon took over, pushing me into my berserk state, activating my camouflage, sending me hurtling towards the humans. With impossible speed, I grabbed the weapon of the one nearest me, snapping it in half with one flick of my wrist. The man reacted in shock, instinctively backing away, and my fist caught him in the face, shattering his skull. As his head exploded in a shower of blood, the other soldiers recoiled, frantically aiming their weapons in search of the invisible demon that had destroyed their comrade.

"Gary, no!!" I heard a voice screaming.

I paid it no attention. The demon was in control now, grabbing the second human, snapping his neck as if it was a twig. Inhaling deeply, a huge jet of fire burst from my throat, setting two other men on fire. The demon feasted on the sound of their screams, as they rolled on the ground in a desperate, hopeless attempt to smother the flames. The rest of the men fled.

"Gary!"  
A hand was on my arm, pulling me back, but I broke free, and accelerated furiously after the running men. They turned briefly to fire their weapons, but they couldn't see my camouflaged body, and it was blind, panic fire that hit nothing. I was gaining on them. I grabbed one by the arm, hurling him through the air, caring not where he landed. I breathed fire once more, setting another man alight. There were only two left; they threw their guns aside and ran for their lives. Unarmed or not, they were still my enemies, and they would still be killed. They had fired on an innocent, unarmed girl and killed her. Now the demon within me would enact my revenge.

The whirling of helicopter blades could be heard as I rapidly covered the distance between myself and the fleeing men. No longer needing my camouflage, I deactivated it. A karate chop broke the neck of the first man. A kick to the chest killed the other, rupturing internal organs and throwing him about twenty feet away from me.

__

For you, Marina.

She was gone. I would never see her again. Already the anger was beginning to fade; the demon, its task accomplished, was handing control back to me, and all I could feel was a deep, unrelenting sorrow. I spat on to the ground by one of the dead men. Marina's life was over, before it had even properly begun. At the same time, my battle against humanity had just begun, and it would not be over until my vengeance was complete, until every single human on the planet was dead. It would not bring her back, but it would ensure that no other mutants had to suffer as I was suffering.

Bullets began to kiss the ground around me, and I turned to see more men heading in my direction, weapons raised, some reaching for grenades, some with flame-throwers. My berserk rage was gone. The demon was dormant. I felt weak, slow and sluggish. I could not fight them. The first man aimed his weapon directly at my head.

A knife embedded itself in his throat. A wall of flame enveloped the three behind him, as the earth around them began to shake, throwing them to the ground.

"Over here!!" a voice shouted.

I headed towards it, towards the vague shape in the darkness that turned into a helicopter. The door was open, hands reaching down to help me inside, and I jumped up into the aircraft.

"Let's go!" Pyro yelled.

I sank into a seat as the chopper lifted from the ground, and I faced the Brotherhood once more. They looked at me differently now. No longer did their eyes hold mistrust, doubt or hate. A bond of sadness, of torment and of pain, all suffered at the hands of humans, had brought us together. Now I was one of them. We were the Brotherhood of Mutants, and we would destroy the humans.

The demon inside me stirred. _All_ the humans.


	11. Epilogue: Demon and Angel

Epilogue: Demon and Angel

Annie Rosiçky closed her eyes, her mind stretching outwards, as she desperately tried, but inevitably failed, to find any trace of her brother.

__

Gary, where are you?

Annie knew it was pointless to keep pretending, to keep telling herself that Gary would show up. Two weeks had gone by, with no signs of him. She couldn't think where he was. No, that wasn't quite true. There were only two possibilities, and she liked neither of them. One: Gary might be dead. Annie refused to even consider that. She would not allow herself to believe that her brother was gone. The second, and slightly less awful possibility, was that he was with the enemy, with the Brotherhood.

__

Why, Gary, why?

Annie knew that Gary had never understood things the way she had. He had never learned why protecting humans was important, why mutants and humans should seek to share the planet, why they should always move for peace. Why was that? Gary and Annie had received the same upbringing; why was it that she could so clearly see what was right, and why could Gary not? Why had he always hated humans? Both of them had suffered dislike and discrimination as mutants, but only Annie had learned to deal with it in the right way. Humans were like children in a way, she decided: ignorant, prejudiced, yet innocent and in need of protection. It seemed so obvious, so clear, that protecting them was the only thing a mutant could do. Why couldn't Gary see it?

__

Gary, where are you? Why are you with the Brotherhood?

Gary had gone berserk, and run off like a man possessed. Annie had not been able to stop him from killing those soldiers, and even now the guilt assailed her, engulfing her heart, pressing down on her like an anvil. They were dead. Humans had lost their lives because Annie had been unable to stop Gary's rage. Was that right? The humans had been trying to kill them. What should they have done? Was it right to fight back, as Gary had? Would it have been better to have taken their weapons and let them run to safety, as Annie had intended to do? She didn't know. She knew Gary had only attacked the soldiers because they had shot Marina.

__

Gary, she isn't dead.

Marina had been lucky. If the bullet had landed a few millimetres to either side, her life would have been over. As it was, Annie had only just been in time to save her, to use her healing power to restore the damage to Marina's throat and remove the bullet. By the time that had happened, however, Gary had vanished. Annie didn't know what she should do now. Her first instinct was to remain at the school with the X-Men, but how could she sit idle while her brother might be in danger, or might be using his powers for wrong? Gary simply didn't realise that reacting in anger and seeking vengeance was not the way things should be done. Annie couldn't understand why he was the way he was. She couldn't even begin to decide what she might do.

"Annie?"

She turned. Marina stood in the doorway of their bedroom; Annie could read the unhappiness and the uncertainty in the younger girl's thoughts.

"Hi, Marina."

"Have you – have you found where he is yet?"

Annie shook her head, slowly and sadly, "No. My telepathy only works over a radius of a mile or so. Wherever Gary is, we can be sure he's much further away than that."

"What are we – what are we going to do?"

Annie sighed in resignation, "I don't know."

Marina fell silent, lacking the words to say or the confidence to say them. Eventually she gave up, and moved across the room to look out of the window. A few moments later, Annie stood beside her, and the two of them gazed out over the gardens and trees of the estate, off into the distance, both of their minds focused on only one thing. Somewhere out there Gary was lost, lost in his rage and his fury, lost in a world of confusion and misunderstanding. Annie's brother, Marina's lover. Neither of them knew when, or if, they would see him again. Annie stretched out with her mind once more.

__

Gary, come back to us…

A/N: Obviously it isn't over yet; if there is sufficient interest I will upload the sequel to this story.


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